Page 149 of Devious Obsession
Although drugging me was his fault.
“Mari was furious with me for threatening you with hospitalization,” Stephen says in a low voice. “And I was planning on apologizing about going that route the last time we saw each other.”
That’s… nice. And a little belated on my mom’s part, but I would understand it more if he just sprang it on her at that hotel restaurant. She’s never been great at standing up for herself—or me. The fact that she said anything at all means she trusts him.
I go to the windows and peer out.
It really is an exact replica of my apartment. I’d even be convinced we were on the same street.
Wait.
I lean into the window, my forehead touching the cold glass. I recognize the cars down there. We’re high up, probably on the sixth or seventh floor, but—
Shit.
He’s been in my apartment building this whole time?
My stomach swoops, and I pivot. I eye Steele’s dad, then the door.
“How do we play this?” I ask. “There’s a fire escape in the room down the hall on the right. We could go out—”
Stephen shakes his head. “And he’d meet us at the ground level, probably with a gun. That’s how he got to me. I was checking your apartment, and he followed me in. Said he’d shoot me if I didn’t go with him upstairs. I figured he was going to kill me on the roof or something, dead either way,” he confesses. “But he just hit me over the head… And then I woke up in here.”
Shit.
“Listen, Aspen.” He takes my hands. Both of them, pressing my palms together. His hands are warm and dry, and that alone screams of confidence. “Whether or not I make it, your family will be okay. Your mom is getting everything in my will, you and your sisters have inheritances in trusts—”
“Why are you telling me this?” I try to pull my hands away. “That’s—”
“Listen to me,” he snaps in a low voice. “I willnotlet this man ruin your life again. So I’m going to distract him, and you’re going to go to the fire escape. Or out the front door. And scream bloody fucking murder until you get free—and don’t stop running until you find my security at the stadium.”
“Why didn’t you bring securityhere?” I look at the window again, then back at him. “I can’t do this. I can’t let you just… sacrifice yourself. He’ll kill you.”
“When I don’t return, they’ll move your mother and sisters to a secure location. We did this to keep them safe fromhim, but I didn’t think he’d find you here. Your uncle assured me that you’d be safe.”
I scoff. “Cillian? My father’s brother? He left a few days ago—he went back to Chicago—”
The door opens, and the words die on my tongue.
Dad’s upped the stakes on us.
Now, he has a gun.
45
STEELE
“Mr. O’Brien, we need to escort you to a safe location.”
Coach and I stop our conversation and eye the unfamiliar man in our locker room. He’s wearing all black, with an earpiece in one ear. There’s a gun on his hip, a radio on his opposite side, and a Kevlar vest strapped over his black shirt.
Coach folds his arms. “And you are…?”
“Security for Mr. Stephen O’Brien, sir. He went to go pick up his stepdaughter and hasn’t checked in within our designated timeframe. It means going through Protocol Orange.” The guy actually looks a little apologetic. “I realize this is half-time, but my orders are non-negotiable.”
“Let me see your credentials,” Coach snaps, glancing at me. “Hockey doesn’t have a fucking half-time, you idiot. We’ve only got one period left. Themost importantperiod.”
The man hands over his identification. His neck is getting red.
