Chapter 2

"Exactly what I said."

Lucas slipped the lighter back into his pocket with deliberate ease.

"Alex handed you over to me to take the fall. But I've changed my mind. Keeping a dog that knows how to bite might be a lot more interesting."

I stared at him, every nerve on edge, my mind racing.

Lucas had a reputation throughout New York's upper crust for being completely unpredictable. He did whatever amused him, with no rules and no limits.

"What do you want from me?" I swallowed my humiliation and asked, my voice hoarse.

"Simple." Lucas gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. "From this moment on, you belong to me.

"So long as you do exactly what I say, I'll hire the best criminal defense lawyer in New York to clear your name. I'll also assume full financial responsibility for your grandmother's care and make sure she remains at the hospital."

I had no choice.

My grandmother was the only family I had left. I couldn't watch them throw her out of the hospital.

"Fine. I'll do it."

A satisfied smile crossed Lucas's face. He let go of my chin and told the driver to turn the car around.

Half an hour later, we pulled into the underground parking garage at Saint Mary's Medical Center.

The moment the bodyguard unbound my wrists, I bolted for the elevator and headed straight for the private intensive care floor where my grandmother was staying.

I raced to my grandmother's room, breathless. When I got there, several orderlies were already packing up her belongings.

My grandmother lay on a transport gurney in the hallway, an oxygen mask covering her face, weak and helpless.

"What are you doing? Who permitted you to touch my grandmother?"

I rushed over and shoved away the nurse who was about to disconnect her IV and switch her to transport equipment.

"Well, well, if it isn't Ms. Grant. Why haven't the investigators taken you away yet?"

A sugary voice drifted out of the room.

Claire stepped out in a tailored designer suit and four-inch heels, carrying herself as if she owned the entire hospital.

Alex followed close behind, carefully holding a thermos for her.

"Claire, watch your step." His voice was impossibly gentle.

The instant he looked at me, the warmth vanished from his eyes.

"Eileen, why are you here? Why haven't you turned yourself in yet?!"

I planted myself in front of the gurney, pointing at them in fury.

"Alex, you promised me! You said that if I cooperated, you wouldn't touch my grandmother!"

"I did." Alex gave a cold smile. "But Claire felt dizzy today, and she doesn't like the emergency observation ward. This is the quietest private suite on the floor, and it overlooks Central Park.

"Your grandmother has been in a coma for years. Whether she's here or in a regular ward makes no difference. Let Claire use the room for one night isn't exactly asking much, is it?"

I stared at him, too stunned to believe what I was hearing.

"Claire's just dizzy. My grandma is on respiratory support and requires continuous monitoring. You're seriously going to move her before she's even been medically cleared, just because Claire feels a little uncomfortable?"

Claire immediately tucked herself against Alex, looking every bit the helpless victim.

"Eileen is so mean. I just thought it was sunny and quiet here. I figured I'd recover faster here. I never hurt her grandmother."

Alex wrapped an arm around her protectively before shooting me a murderous glare.

"Eileen, raise your voice at Claire one more time and see what happens. Security! Get this lunatic out of here!"

Several big and burly security guards closed in immediately.

I watched them reach for my grandmother's gurney and something inside me broke. I bowed at Alex.

"Mr. Walker... please. My grandmother can't be moved without her attending physician's approval! Just let her stay, and I'll go to the investigators now. I'll tell them whatever you want."

I bowed deeply, my forehead nearly level with my knees.

Alex looked down at me as if I were something beneath him.

"So now you know how to beg. Too late."

He kicked me aside, his voice icy-cold.

"Move her to the general ward. Give her the lowest level of care. As for you, Eileen, this is what happens when you don't do as you're told."

Just as the security guards were about to lay their hands on my grandmother's gurney, a deep voice rang out from the far end of the corridor.

"Who has the nerve to lay a hand on what's mine?"