Dark eyes blazed with annoyance and mild respect. “You’re one of a kind, Eden O’Dell.”
I stiffened. “What did you just call me?”
Only one man called me by my married name.
He sighed heavily, and my vision finally cleared, adjusting to the dim light silhouetting his face. My head pounded, and dozens of spots plastered my vision. The fear that should have had me cowering under the bed hid behind an avalanche of rage and launched my body forward. Within inches of his chest, my wrist restraint jerked me backward and I banged my head against the iron railing of the bed.
Trapped, I let out a primal scream, yanking on my restraint again. “Murderer!” Nash’s vacant eyes filled my head, and I shook it violently, desperate to rid it of the image.
“Whoa,cálmete!” he bellowed, raising a hand. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Fuck you!” I spat, throwing myself at him again. The cuff dug into my wrist, and I winced as it sliced my skin. Pain shot down my arm, but with adrenaline pumping, it only fueled my anger. “I saw you! I watched you cut my brother’s fingers off. You walked out and sent those bastards in to finish him.”
I continued battling against the restraint, blood pouring down my arm. My boss, the man I trusted completely, lifted off his heels and grabbed me by the shoulders, pinning me against the bedframe.
“Would you calm the hell down?” Emilio moved one arm and braced it horizontally against my upper chest while holding my wrist immobile with the other. “I didn’t kill anyone. And what the hell are you talking about? Who’s your brother?”
Unable to move and weakened with fading energy, my head wobbled on my shoulders as I lowered my forehead against his. “Nash Lachey, you asshole.”
His face blanched. “Your name is O’Dell.”
“You’re a shitty businessman, Emilio,” I taunted. “Do you always take everything at face value?”
The lines around his mouth deepened as his eyes narrowed inches from mine. His body leaned forward while his hold on my wrist tightened. I could see the confusion melt into irritation.
A wise woman would shut her mouth. I’d never been particularly wise.
“O’Dell was my married name. My name is Lachey. I was in the kitchen at Caliente.” A dark glaze blackened his already coal eyes. “I saw everything.”
The confession wasn’t smart by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it gave him every reason to kill me right there. I braced for it. I expected it.
But I’d never back down from it.
Nash left this world protecting me, and I’d be damned if I’d beg his tormentor for anything.
“I could’ve left you there.”
I pulled on my bleeding arm again. “Because this issomuch fucking better!”
Angered, he shook me, my head slamming against the bedrail. “You have no idea what was coming for you, do you, EdenLachey?” He said my name with such contempt, I instinctively recoiled. “Being cuffed to a bed is a goddamn vacation compared to what waited behind me.”
Emilio’s anger overtook him. He’d all but climbed on top of me, pushing his face against mine, and barking words with disgust as sweat dripped from his chin onto my blood-caked skin. My chest heaved with terror, but only my widened eyes displayed any emotion to his aggression. His hand released my wrist and fisted the back of my hair, lifting my face. Warm breath faintly reeking of alcohol filled my nostrils.
The threat of being killed spurred venom inside of me. Fear sat back and let vengeance ride shotgun. I twisted, desperate to get away from him, but his hold tightened.
A door slammed and an angry voice shouted behind him.“What the hell is this?”
Emilio stiffened, his furious glare becoming submissive. “She was out of control.”
“Get your hands off her. Now!” the man growled.
Winking, Emilio released his hold and stood up. “Try to behave, Eden Lachey, and you might make it out of here.”
As he walked away, I released the breath I’d held and sank to the floor.
“Lachey? Your name is Lachey?”
My head snapped up. With one glance, my breathing became erratic, and my thoughts went haywire. Chocolate brown eyes flecked with gold stared back at me. Taking in my bloodied wrist, his own hands tightened into fists by his side.
