FREE (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 16) Read Free

so glad to hear your voice.”
    “Lanie, I love you,” he said. “I’m coming.”

    * * *
    I t was much later that night, almost morning really, and she was in the car driving home from the police station with Brayden.
    It had been hours of giving statements, filling out paperwork, having pictures taken of her arms and legs where she’d been tied, and her back where she’d been cut by Frida’s knife. Telling various detectives over and over what had happened to her.
    She had refused treatment at the hospital. The cut on her back was minor and already healing. The other wounds were superficial, and the deepest would be psychological.
    The police said they were going to try to find the van and Frida and the strange potbellied man who’d been her accomplice.
    But now all of that was over and Lanie was in the passenger seat of Brayden’s car, and she was exhausted. This was the first chance they’d had to really be alone together.
    He glanced over at her. “Are you comfortable?” he asked, his voice soft, his eyes sad, bloodshot as if from lack of sleep. He was wearing a white button down shirt, sleeves rolled up over his elbows, showing his muscular forearms as he shifted gears.
    “I’m okay,” she smiled, looking at him.
    He shifted gears again and she saw how tense his shoulders were as he drove.
    “Brayden,” she said. “I’m okay. I promise.”
    One hand gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles whitening as if he wanted to break the wheel and throw it out the window.
    “I can’t believe I was dumb enough to fall for it when you said you were going to meet Ivy and Cullen again,” he whispered. “I’m supposed to protect you.” He shook his head.
    “I put myself in that position,” Lanie said. “I lied to you because I knew it was dangerous.”
    “I still could’ve stopped you. I never should have let you get in that fucking cab.”
    “It happened. The important thing is that we’re together again. For a little while, I was sure that I might not make it out alive.”
    His throat worked but no sound came out for a time. Finally, he spoke. “You were tortured. Lanie, I’ll never be able to forgive myself for letting it happen.”
    “I got stronger,” she said, recalling the darkness and how she’d realized that she wasn’t frightened of it anymore. “And when I thought of you, and pictured your face, I knew that I could handle anything.”
    Brayden glanced at her again, and this time she saw the tears in his eyes and the surprise there, as well. His lips were pinched tight together as he turned back to the road. “I’ve never met someone like you in my life,” he said. “I just can’t understand how you exist. I can’t believe you’re real, my angel.”
    She smiled, knowing that the Brayden she’d first met would never had said something so sweet and loving. She turned towards him and reached across to touch his strong arm, her hand sliding down his shoulder and to his bicep. “This is the only real thing I know,” she said. “You and me.”
    He nodded. “Amen to that.”
    And then they drove home, mostly in silence. But it wasn’t angry or upset or strange. It was the relaxed silence of two people so confident in what they had that words were not even necessary.
    About half an hour later, Brayden parked and they got out of the car and started towards his building.
    “Okay, now we have to deal with the vultures,” he said darkly.
    She noticed there was a small crowd of people standing on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to his complex.
    “What’s that about?” she asked.
    He turned and put an arm around her. “I haven’t told you what they made me do to get you released, because the police were already made aware of it. But let’s just say, it wasn’t pretty.”
    Lanie looked up at him. “They mentioned that you released some kind of statement.”
    Brayden grimaced. “I went on live television and told the world that I’m a predator who violates women, and