Billionaire's Second Chance At Love

Chapter Twenty Four

He chuckled.

There was a time when his laughter would have charmed her, but not anymore—not when he appeared like a predator unwilling to let go of its prey.

And she was the prey.

In one swift motion, he spun her around, pressing her back against his chest, and forcefully restraining her arms behind her back. She squirmed, overwhelmed with fear and confusion about what was happening.

"I presented you with choices," he stated. "Because I wanted you to feel independent, like you had an equal say in this." He planted a kiss below her right ear, biting the flesh just beneath the base of her neck. "But now you're turning me down, Carmen. Rejection doesn't sit well with me. I thought you'd have picked up on that by now." He shook his head. "Never mind. You lacked focus anyway. We're going to go through this again. Okay, sweetheart? I'll be kind and give you one hour to make up your mind, and then I'll ask you again. You better give me an answer." He nibbled on her ear, causing her to cry out. "The answer I want to hear, understood?"

"You're sick."

"No." He shook his head, grinning. "I'm not sick. I'm simply driven by an intense desire for what I want." His voice lowered, sending a chilling wave of fear through her. "And I want you. Every part of you. Exclusively mine."

"You're making a mistake."

He laughed again, amused. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

* * *

Carmen racked her brain, trying to recall all the signs she had overlooked. Those signs which should have alerted her to who the hell Simon Walsh really was—a psychopath or just plain crazy.

She knew he was power-hungry; she remembered the time he warned her of the dangers in his dark world, but she never expected him to actually possess such a dangerous side—the side that scared her now, absolutely to the core. He had given her a choice, gaining her trust and giving her the wrong sense of comfort that he had her best interest in mind, that she was in control of how things would transpire between the two.

But that was obviously not the case.

It was like witnessing a whole new side of him, and needless to say, she didn't like what she saw.

I should have walked away when I had the time.

There was nothing like a clean breakup. Never.

A few minutes ago, he had locked her up in a tiny cabin devoid of any windows. Even though Carmen had never felt claustrophobic before, she certainly did now. She couldn't ignore the urgency of her situation or the fact that she was in deep trouble. She had to get out of this place. She had to get out of this fucking cruise.

Carmen anxiously paced the room, her mind racing with thoughts. She had already exhausted her attempts at banging on the door and screaming for help. But she had also noticed the narrow, desolate hallway he had taken her through. Something told her it was an area rarely frequented by others on the cruise.

She also couldn't afford to waste all her energy right away. She needed to conserve her strength and use it wisely. When he returned, she had a plan to strike him, aiming for his nose—well, that was the goal, at least. She had learned techniques in school, where they taught girls how to incapacitate a larger opponent by targeting areas that would buy them more time than a groin kick ever could.

Her heart was hammering against her ribs, but she was trying to stay calm. She couldn't lose her head right now. Not when her life seemed to be at stake. If she had to, she would say whatever the fuck he wanted to hear, so she could bide her time and escape him at the first chance.