I didn’t remember much of the drive. Just flashes—the screech of tires, headlights cutting through the dark, and Cole’s jaw set tight as stone.
We sped away from the mansion while everything I’d ever known shrank in the rearview mirror. My home. My father. My entire life.
And I couldn’t stop shaking.
Cole hadn’t said a word since we’d left. Not when I asked where we were going, not when I demanded to know what he saw on those cameras. He just kept driving, eyes fixed on the road like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
Finally, I couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“You can’t just kidnap me, Cole.” My voice cracked halfway through the sentence. “You’re supposed to be my bodyguard, not my warden.”
He didn’t even glance at me. “I’m doing my job.”
“Your job is to protect me, not dr
