He did.
He was okay.
Alive, ready for another day.
Another day that included loving me.
But another day that included the existence of Katherine. The existence that could change anything and everything without warning.
I watched his figure move around the shower. The outline of his body alone was enough to die for. To imagine that the body I stared at had been on top of me, behind me, pleasuring me, loving me... I was the luckiest person in the world.
A knock at the hotel room door ended my enjoyment. I scrambled to close the door without getting caught, a knock came at the door again. I knew I wasn’t properly dressed to answer the door but I figured Jonathan must have ordered us breakfast.
I opened the door without checking, like a fool, and when I saw Kellen standing there, I almost collapsed.
I held the door and looked over my shoulder.
What the hell would happen if Jonathan came out of the bathroom right then? And saw Kellen?
I looked at Kellen and he looked defeated, beat up, and used.
“Kellen,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“She wanted me to give you something,” he said.
“Who?”
“Katherine.”
My eyes widened and my heart felt like it missed a few beats.
Katherine.
Just like that, the entire morning changed. The sexy images of Jonathan showering were replaced by the sultry images of Katherine’s body, vicious fingernails, and deep desire to harm Jonathan.
“Are you okay?” I whispered to Kellen.
“I’m always okay,” Kellen said.
He looked like Kellen, but he didn’t act like Kellen.
He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know. She told me she’d kill me if I read it.”
“How would she know if you read it?” I asked.
The power of Katherine was really getting on my nerves. Her idle threats...
“How did she know Jonathan was in the shower?” Kellen asked.
That froze my blood for more than a second.
“What?”
“She told me that Jonathan was in the shower and it was my chance to bring this to you. If I didn’t or if I read the paper, I’d die.”
My bottom lip started to quiver.
How did she know? Were there cameras in the hotel room?
If there were cameras... all I could picture then was Katherine watching what happened between Jonathan Black and I. Him tying me with the belt. Tearing my dress. Enjoying my body. What if she saw me trying to practice stabbing with a knife? Or... the gun. Had she watched me find the gun in Jonathan’s closet?
“Oh, Isabella Grace,” Kellen said. “I wish you could just see it all.”
“See what?”
Kellen reached forward and touched my bottom lip. His thumb caressed it, putting it at ease.
“Just see it all,” he said. “This is your life. Now and forever.”
“If it’s so bad, why are you still here?” I asked. “You have money and power. Why bother now?”
“I can’t bear to leave you,” he said.
His eyes were sincere, his face chiseled in a way so different from Jonathan Black. He had command, but it was an innocent looking command.
“Kellen...”
“I’ll wait for you,” he said. “You’ll see.”
“No,” I said. “I won’t. You can waste your life, but you can’t be near me.”
“Why? Is he going to kill me?”
There was a flicker of a smile on Kellen’s face. I wasn’t sure if it was him teasing me or being serious. Whether he cared or knew it, that’s what would happen. If he lingered or got too close, over and over, Jonathan would take care of him.
Or maybe I would...
I closed my eyes for a second, calming my nerves and reminding myself that I had only stabbed two eggs. I had no experience in killing.
“Kellen, just go,” I said. “You gave me what you needed. Now go.”
I looked over my shoulder again. I hoped Jonathan would stay where he was, in the shower, with his mind and thoughts.
“Fair enough,” Kellen said. “But I’ll be waiting for you, Isabella Grace. You’ll wake up someday and realize it. Realize that Katherine won’t stop. That Jonathan Black won’t stop. And I’ll be there. We can go anywhere you want. Anywhere in the entire world. Live happy and free. In love.”
“Goodbye,” I said and shut the door.
I turned and fell back to the door, wanting to scream and maybe even cry. I looked at the piece of paper in my hand. I opened it and found my hands shaking already. Anything to do with Katherine made me shake. Even a piece of paper.
It was a note from Katherine. Handwritten with pristine writing.
Of course. Everything about Katherine was perfect.
I’m still waiting, Isabella. The clock is ticking. A phone will be waiting for you soon.
The dangerous and cryptic words shook me to my core. I rushed to the kitchen and tore the note to pieces and threw it all away. I looked at the knives and really pictured it now. I could see it happening. Taking a knife, getting to Katherine. Ending it all.
I could do it.
The water turned off in the bathroom and I rushed back to the bed. I waited there, wrapped in the sheet. Jonathan came into the bedroom looking gorgeous as always. He stared at me as he stood on the side of the bed and I smiled at him.
“Busy day?” I asked.
“Yes,” Jonathan said. “Yes.”
“My meeting with Mr. Denninbraugh is happening today.”
“That’s good.”
“I suppose, Isabella Grace.”
There was something in Jonathan’s eyes. Something he wasn’t telling me. That was fine by me. The more Jonathan went on with his normal life - managing his multi-billion dollar empire - the more time I’d have to figure everything else out.
He dropped his towel, standing nude for me for a few seconds. It was enough to make me melt everywhere. I didn’t speak a word while he dressed. Watching him dress to become the powerful billionaire the world saw him as was beautiful. I was the one who got to see Jonathan Black as the powerful billionaire in the bedroom. The world got to see him in a suit. They got to experience his action through decision. In the bedroom I got to see - and feel – his command in action.
He pulled his tie up and stretched his neck.
“I promise you,” Jonathan said, “things will calm soon. I can feel it.”
“I believe you,” I said.
“There is always business to conduct, Isabella Grace, that of which I’m sure you understand.”
“Yes.”
“But there are annoyances all around, aren’t there? Those who can’t become me who try to take me down. It’s quite funny actually.”
His words seemed almost as cryptic as Katherine’s note.
...things will calm soon...
What did that mean?
Was he going to kill someone? Katherine?
Panic hit my heart wondering if maybe I was going to get in the way. I had no idea what Mr. Denninbraugh actually did. I couldn’t remember a time when Jonathan Black depended on someone else... the only time that came close was when Katherine poisoned him and Dr. Ace saved him after Katherine poisoned him. But even then, the doctor knew it was his job to do it and nothing more.
Something big was happening in the background of it all. If it was to harm Katherine... and I was in the way...
Jonathan faced the bed and smiled at me.
“Very soon,” he whispered. “Very soon. I won’t be back until this evening, Isabella Grace. You have everything you need. Along with a security team at your call. If you feel anything or get worried...”
“Thank you,” I said. “I love you, Jonathan.”
“I love you too.”
It was no more than five minutes aft
er Jonathan left when I heard a thunk sound at the hotel door. It wasn’t a knock. It was like someone threw something at the door.
I closed my eyes when my heart began to race.
I knew what I’d find before I even opened the door. And my thoughts were confirmed when I did open the door.
There it was.
On the floor in the hall.
Another cell phone.
-7-
I took the phone and slammed the hotel room door. I went to the kitchen counter, next to the knives. I grabbed the butcher’s knife and placed it on the counter next to the phone. I swallowed hard and tried to regain some normal breathing. My thoughts were out of control and to imagine Jonathan Black in a limo right now, our distance growing by the second, made me want to scream.
He had arranged security for me, sure, but I knew the truth. And the truth was that there was no security from Katherine. She would do whatever she wanted when she wanted. The only true security from Katherine...
I looked at the knife.
Death.
A few seconds later, the phone vibrated as a text message appeared on the screen. Seeing the text message pop up took me back to everything. How Jonathan and I had to flee to his father’s cabin. To how his father acted and how it appeared his father had become a hero. To the phone in his father’s jacket. The phone meant for me. The phone that started this... this beginning of the end.
The text was simple yet scary.
Good morning.
I hated Katherine so much that even the smallest words got to me.
I wrote back without the same gentle conviction.
What do you want?
I sent the message but my mind kept going.
I’m going to kill you, Katherine. You’re not going to touch me. Or Jonathan.
Katherine replied...
Hope you slept well. Jonathan is gone for the day I see. You must be so lonely up there. Come down and see me.
I curled my lip and gritted my teeth. I looked at the knife on the counter. Could this be the time to do it? Jonathan was gone...
But, no.
I couldn’t.
Not with Jonathan gone.
I needed him to be close so he could see it and then clean it up. I couldn’t just have a dead body in the hotel without Jonathan near to protect me. We’d have to escape the hotel, the city, the state even. Like before. And if he was working with Mr. Denninbraugh...
Shit.
I’d have to wait.
I’m not leaving the hotel today.
That’s what I wrote back. If Katherine wanted me, she could come get me.
Oh, Isabella. You foolish woman. I’m in the same hotel. Directly under you.
I pushed the phone from the counter and let out a whimpering cry. Of course she was in the hotel. How could I be so stupid? She had a hotel room across the street and in the same hotel as Jonathan and I. She was that insane.
I hurried to retrieve the phone and typed back to her.
Good for you. Glad you could join us.
There, I’d show her. I wouldn’t back down.
But Katherine didn’t back down either.
You’ll be joining me.
I scoffed. Then typed.
What makes you think that?
I wouldn’t allow myself to fall into her trap like Kellen and others. I wanted to take her words with a grain of salt. She needed action behind her words to scare me. I closed my eyes and desperately tried to convince myself of that, but once the phone vibrated again, my heart raced.
I read the message and my heart nearly stopped.
Oh, well since I’m holding a gun to the back of someone’s head... someone that’s important to you... you may want to come see me... dear Isabella...
I thought about asking for proof. Calling her out. But she was crazy enough to pull the trigger if she really had a gun. And someone important to me? Who could be important to me in the hotel?
Two names came to mind.
Two opposite people...
First was Kellen. She had already tried to kill him once, forcing me to save him. Would she do the same thing again? Keep bringing me to Kellen to save him. Maybe it was her way of forcing Kellen and I together so she could have Jonathan Black to herself.
Good luck with that...
Second, what if it was Jonathan? If she knew his schedule... she could do something. I saw Jonathan leave the hotel room, but not the hotel. I didn’t see him get into a limo and drive away. And even if I did, who’s to say something didn’t happen on the way to his meeting with Mr. Denninbraugh?
Fuck.
I hated it. I hated it all.
And that was exactly why.
With Katherine alive anything was possible.
I hated what I had to do next.
I had to text Katherine back.
I had to ask for her room number.
And then I had to go to her hotel room.
-8-
I thought about taking the knife - or the gun - but came to my senses quickly. If I showed up at Katherine’s hotel room with a weapon, what would happen? If she was serious about having a gun herself then. I’d be dead. Jonathan would be dead. Maybe even Kellen would be dead.
And Katherine would win.
That rotten bitch.
At the door I shook my head. She had been literally right under us. I assumed the rooms to be private enough that she couldn’t have heard a thing between me and Jonathan, but that didn’t mean she didn’t think about it. She could have been in her bed, staring at the ceiling wondering what Jonathan was doing to me.
I knocked and the door quickly opened.
I stared ahead expecting to see Katherine in some seductive clothing, holding a gun. Instead, I stared at the chest of a man. A huge man. I looked at his face, which appeared to have to muscle too. He was a massive man, definitely some kind of bodyguard. Great, just what I needed... Katherine to have protection for herself. It made me worry even more, thinking for sure she had to have had cameras in the hotel room, spying on me and Jonathan.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Walk,” the man said.
His Heart (By His Command #9) (billionaire romance / romantic suspense) Page 4
