“Because of that connection, we don’t need words, Mattie,” I promised him. “I feel every time your emotions change, whether you’re with me or not. I love you that deeply. I have since the first day in the park. There was a reaction there that wasn’t necessarily love at first sight as much as it was our souls connecting. That’s the only way I can explain it.”
I shivered and he helped me get dressed, then wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.
“Soul mates at first sight,” he said and kissed my cheek with a smile. “We learned all the rest along the way, even if it took me way too long to figure it out.”
“I used to think if I had a choice, I’d do everything over. Now I’m not so sure. Sometimes life happens the way it does to help us appreciate happiness when it comes to us.”
He nodded as he poked at the fire with a stick. “I agree, and to that end, I want you to know your mom and dad won’t be bothering you anymore either. We can finally be happy without their interference.”
I turned to stare at him. “What does that mean? I haven’t heard from them since I refused to answer the texts about the air conditioner.”
He kept his gaze trained on the fire. “I took care of the situation as we talked about. They’ll live out their days comfortably. You will no longer have to deal with their childish behavior.”
I tossed the blanket off my arms and stood, anger vibrating through me. “You did what?”
He stood slowly and held his hands out to me. “I told you what I was going to do.”
I threw my arms out to my sides. “You asked me if I wanted you to do that! I never agreed to anything!”
His hands went on his hips, and I could tell he was mad. That was too damn bad.
“Honey, calm down. I don’t want you to have a seizure.” He grasped my arms loosely, but I shook him off before taking a step back.
“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m way too angry to have a seizure. I can’t believe you went behind my back and did this! I told you I wanted to cut them out of my life my way.”
He held his hands out again as I took another step back. “I know, but we both know your parents. They were never going to leave you alone. Considering the fact that they couldn’t sign the paperwork fast enough and never even contacted you about it, that should tell you something! It should tell you that they never cared about you, Honey. You know they would drive us crazy for the rest of their lives. We’d never have a moment of peace.”
I nodded as I backed up the beach. “Oh, I see, so the reason you did it was to make your life easier. Mathias Jørgensen, with all his money, can just buy people off. He can pretend it’s what other people want when it’s actually what he wants.”
“Honey,” he said with exasperation.
“No, don’t ‘Honey’ me.” I was livid and there was no hiding it. “I told you I’d handle it, yet you still refused to let me take care of my own business. I thought this was a relationship. A partnership. It turns out it’s a dictatorship because that’s what a dictator does. He does whatever he wants without regard for anyone else’s feelings!”
I turned and ran away from the man who was supposed to trust me as much as I trusted him. Now that trust was gone. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I ran up the gravel road as he called my name from the beach, but I didn’t stop. I ran headlong into the trees to cut back to the house, gasping for air after a few minutes of running. I stopped and bent over, sucking in air now that I was away from him. I would go back to the house and lock myself in my room for the night until I figured out what to do.
I heard a noise behind me and sighed. “Mathias, leave me alone. Just leave me alone,” I said as arms grabbed me.
The sudden, white hot pain in my head told me with blinding clarity that it wasn’t Mathias, and I wasn’t going to be okay.
CHAPTER 21
I came to slowly, the fuzziness in my brain overpowering me to the point that all I could do was groan. I had no idea where I was, but it was dark and it smelled earthy.
“Oh, good, you’re awake,” came a voice behind me. I knew that accent and that voice. Milas? No. He was dead, right?
“Where am I?” I asked, noting my legs were tied to a chair, and my hands were zip-tied together on my lap. My heart started to pound when the whole picture came into focus. Someone had kidnapped me from the woods.
A light snapped on behind me, and I took in the galley ofThe Survivor, Milas’s boat. “You recognize it now?”
“Oh my God, where’s Mathias?” I demanded. “Where is he?” I asked, my voice carrying a whine I wished wasn’t there.
“I hope he’s wondering where his honeybee is,” the voice said with heavy sarcasm on my nickname.
“You better shut that light off. This is the first place he’ll look for me,” I said, false confidence in my voice. For all I knew, Mathias thought I took off, and no one was looking for me. I whimpered again, my heart rate skyrocketing.
You have to stay calm, Honey. You have to stay calm so you don’t have a seizure. I could hear Mattie whispering in my ear, and I forced my heart rate to slow.
“He can look, but they aren’t going to find us on that dock. I’m not stupid.”
