But I knew I wouldn’t get it.

I didn’t.

Instead, he lifted both his hands to cup my face and got deep in my space.

“You’ll be back tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“Yeah,” he whispered like it hurt to say.

“You do know, Sebring, that you should also be fucking a woman who can give you more than me,” I pointed out.

He’d already shattered my world.

But that was when he destroyed me.

“Funny how I can’t for the life of me figure out what that more would be.”

Slowly, I closed my eyes.

I felt him shift before I felt his lips touch my forehead.

I opened my eyes.

“Tomorrow night, Olivia.”

I nodded.

He let me go and stepped away.

I got in my car and only glanced at him briefly to lift my chin before I drove away.

For once, I didn’t look in my rearview.

But I made sure I was well away when I allowed myself to pull over and dissolve into tears.

The only thing I had, the only thing that gave me the strength to sort myself out, get back on the road, get home, get to bed and keep breathing was I knew.

I knew I had something to look forward to.

I knew I’d be with Nick the way I could have him and the way he could have me the next evening.

Only a few hours away.

Only a few hours.

And I’d again have Nick.

* * * * *

Nick

Nick stood at the top of his steps and watched the dark streets until he couldn’t see the back lights of Olivia’s Range Rover anymore.

Only then did he go into his unit.

He slid the door closed behind him and bolted it.

He stared at his place.

It was a great place. He liked it. He’d worked hard for it. He’d earned everything in there.

Gone were the days he tried to find the easy way, living under the shadow of Knight, deciding, since he could never beat his brother he might as well use him to get the good things in life.

Now they were his but only because he made it that way. He’d worked hard. He’d done it.

So yeah, he liked his place. He liked his car. He liked his clothes.

He had it all and he liked it all.

He had it all.

The look on Olivia’s face after he offered his deal blistered his brain.

Fuck, he did not have it all.

And Olivia Shade was not a mystery.

With the time they’d spent together, he now knew so down deep it was the fucking air he breathed that Olivia Shade was something of exquisite beauty not allowed to be what she needed to be.

Beauty bound.

She was not a ghost who could be seen.

She was a hostage in a lavish cage.