“Yes.” His beautiful lips curl in a smile as he releases my arms and steps back. “Now, are you feeling better, or should we go back?”

“No, let’s take a walk,” I say, determined to enjoy the day. “I’m fine now.”

Julian takes my hand, lacing my fingers through his, and we enter the park. To my relief, in the daylight everything looks different than it did on that fateful evening, and it’s not long before the dark memories recede, retreating back to that forbidden, closed corner of my brain.

I want to keep them there, so I focus on the bright sunlight and the warm spring breeze.

“I love this weather,” I say to Julian as we pass by a playground. “I’m glad we came out.”

He smiles and brings my hand up to brush a kiss across my knuckles. “Me too, baby. Me too.”

As we walk, I see that the park is unusually busy for a Friday. There are older couples, moms and nannies with their charges, and a good number of people my age. I’m guessing they’re college students, home for the long weekend. Here and there, I also spot a few military-looking types doing their best to blend in.

Julian’s men. They’re here to protect us, but their presence is also a stark reminder that I’m still a prisoner in a way.

“How were you able to find me?” I ask when we sit down on a bench. I know I should stop dwelling on the past, but for some reason, I can’t stop thinking of those early days. “After our first meeting at the club, I mean?”

Julian turns to look at me, his expression unreadable. “I sent a guard to follow you home.”

“Oh.” So simple, yet so diabolical. “You already knew you wanted to steal me?”

“No.” He clasps both of my hands between his palms. “I hadn’t come to that decision yet. I told myself I just wanted to know who you were, to make sure you got home safely.”

I stare at him, both fascinated and disturbed. “So when did you decide to abduct me?”

His eyes gleam a bright blue. “It was later, when I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I went to your graduation because I told myself you couldn’t possibly be the way I remembered you, the way you appeared in the pictures I had my guards take. I told myself that if I saw you in person again, this obsession would disappear… but of course it didn’t.” His lips curl with irony. “It got worse. It’s still getting worse.”

I swallow, unable to look away from the dark intensity in his gaze. “Do you ever regret it? Taking me the way you did?”

“Regret that you’re mine?” He lifts his eyebrows. “No, my pet. Why would I?”

Why, indeed. I don’t know what other answer I expected. That he fell in love with me and now regrets having caused me suffering? That I came to mean so much to him that he now sees his actions as wrong?