Chapter 4 4. Hide and Seek

SILAS

I checked my watch. Ten minutes and twelve seconds.

The room was too quiet. I didn't need to be a genius to know she was gone. Maya Sullivan was a lot of things, a brat, a chatterbox, a sharp-tongued fighter but she was also predictable.

A girl with a mouth like hers doesn't wait to be told when to speak her vows. She spends every second looking for a way to rewrite the script.

I pushed the bedroom door open. The window was up, and the curtains were snapping in the wind like white flags of surrender. I walked to the ledge, the cold air rushing in to meet me.

The fire escape was empty. I looked down at the iron steps and felt a pull of admiration. She'd rather gamble on a four-story drop than play it safe and have a life with me.

"Sir?" my guard, Elias, asked from the doorway. "She's gone. Should we-"

"Is the tail on the boyfriend in place?"

"Yes, sir. They're heading toward the city center."

My phone vibrated. I answered it, my voice flat. "I have it under control, Viktor."

"Under control?" My father's voice was heavy with a threat he rarely had to voice. "I just got word that your five-hundred-million-dollar bride is currently in a taxi, racing toward a Marriage Bureau with that pathetic boyfriend. I hope for your sake you're already behind her, Silas. I didn't pay her father's debts so you could play hide and seek."

"I said, I have it under control," I repeated, my eyes tracking the movement of the curtains.

"You let a twenty-three-year-old girl make a fool of the Blackwood name before the ink on the contract is even dry," Viktor snapped.

I clenched my jaw, my knuckles turning white as I gripped the windowsill. "I knew she'd run. I'm letting her lead me to her leverage."

"Leverage?" Viktor barked a laugh that held no humor. "She is the leverage, Silas. Have you forgotten why we're doing this?"

"I haven't forgotten," I said, my eyes fixed on the empty fire escape. "I'm the one dealing with her, not you."

"Then start thinking like a Blackwood and stop treating this like a game of cat and mouse," Viktor hissed. "The investigative journalists are already digging into the docks, and the authorities are getting too close to the shipping manifests. The regulatory boards are looking for any excuse to freeze our offshore accounts. We don't need another hostile acquisition while the press is already calling us vultures."

"I'm aware of the strategy."

"Then act like it! The Blackwood name needs a shield, not more blood. Maya is that shield. She's the perfect face for the family, innocent enough to make the public look the other way. We need a distraction, Silas. We need a wedding that makes the world forget where our money actually comes from."

"And if she doesn't play along?" I asked, watching a loose piece of trash whip across the alley below.

"You don't ask her to play along, Silas. You make it her only option," Viktor corrected sharply. "They are watching us. One wrong move and the whole house of cards comes down. We need a love story to sell to the press so they stop asking questions about our private investments."

"Viktor." I'd had enough of this.

He ignored me, cutting through my protest without missing a beat.

"Maya Sullivan is the perfect clean asset. She has no one. Her father is a broken coward and her boyfriend is a rat. She's a girl with no shadow, Silas. Once she's a Blackwood, she's our silence. If she marries that boy tonight, the narrative dies and the investigation moves closer to home and she becomes a liability we'll have to eliminate. Is that what you want?"

"Dad." My grip on the phone tightened as I looked out at the city, my eyes narrowing into slits. "She won't marry him."

"Of course she won't," Viktor said, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. "Why do you think I've been paying that little rat for the last three months? Liam is exactly where he needs to be. He's been my eyes and ears on Maya since the moment her father started missing payments."

Maya was an infuriating brat, but the thought of Liam taking my father's money to lead her into a trap while pretending to be her hero made my blood boil.

One day, I'd kill him for touching what belonged to me while taking a paycheck to do it and I'd peel the skin off his back for betraying her.

"I'll handle it," I said, my voice sounding like a final warning. "And Viktor? Stay out of my business. She's mine now."

I hung up before he could answer.

"Elias," I called, turning away from the window. "Get the car. It's time."

The drive took less than twenty minutes. By the time we arrived, my security team had already cleared the hall. The double doors were flung open, and I stepped inside.

It was a pathetic sight. Maya was standing there, looking exhausted and unraveled, clutching the arm of a man who wasn't worth the breath in her lungs.

"Liam, we have to go!" she gasped, her voice thick with a panic that made my chest tighten. She tugged at him, her eyes darting toward the side exit, but she didn't realize my men had sealed the building before she even stepped out of the taxi.

But the rat didn't move.

Liam stood there, his shoulders slumped, sweat beading on his forehead. He didn't look at me with defiance. He didn't even look at her. He just slowly, deliberately, let go of her hand.

I watched the confusion flicker across Maya's face. She looked down at her empty hand, then up at the man she thought was her savior. She didn't know yet. She didn't realize she was standing next to a man who had a price tag on his loyalty and that my father had already paid it in full.

I stopped three feet away, the click of my shoes the only sound in the room. Even with her world collapsing, she looked ready to bite.

"The five minutes are up, Maya." I announced.

I stepped into her space, leaning down until my face was inches from hers. The soft scent of her jasmine perfume filled my senses, overpowering the clinical smell of the building.

Maya's lip trembled, her eyes darting to Liam, who was staring at his own shoes. "Liam?" she whispered, the word a broken plea.

I didn't give him the chance to lie to her again. I reached out, my thumb catching her chin and forcing her focus back to me.

"He's not going to help you, sweetheart," I murmured, my thumb brushing against her lower lip.

"So," I let my eyes burn into hers, stripping away the last of her illusions. "Are we going to do this the easy way, or do I need to show you what happens to girls who try to run from a Blackwood?"

I didn't wait for her to answer. I reached

out, my fingers curling firmly around her waist, claiming what was legally and now physically mine.

"Now, get in the car. We have a wedding to plan."