The Found One

Chapter 28

Izzy POV

"So, engaged?" Rowan asked once the door was closed, the lock clicking into place.

They were alone in the plush and sophisticated room. Hayden and Derek in one room beside them, Austin and Olivia the other. The last she had seen of the twins was their stiff backs side by side as the door shut. She didn't know where the rest of the Royal Guards had disappeared to.

Turning to face her, Izzy had to force herself not to retreat from the sight of him. His voice was the one that made her want to give into him, bend to anything he wanted. She hated the tingles it spread over her skin, the heat that flushed her cheeks.

"When exactly were you going to tell me you had a fiancé?"

There was that stupid word again! "I'm not his anything!" She snorted. Anger making her words sharp and pointed. "And I'm definitely not his fucking fiancé!"

"I think he would disagree with you." Rowan said carefully, his eyes watching her face. His own emotions carefully hidden.

"I don't give a shit what he thinks!" She shouted, her finger flinging to the locked door. "I hate him! And I'll marry him over my dead body! And I don't care what he, or my father, or you have to say about it!" She was screaming by the end. Anger and fear spilling free, as the reality that he had somehow actually found her crashed home.

The only good thing about being kidnapped by monsters and never being allowed to go back to her home or family was that she thought it meant she was free of Tony for the rest of her life.

That isn't the only good thing and you know it. A small voice said in the back of her mind. Oh shut up! She replied sarcastically, pushing the memories of Rowan kissing her away. That isn't a good thing – it's a ... a complication. That's all.

And yet here he was, walking back into her life like it was his right. Threatening her, claiming her, terrorizing her – will I never be free? Where else can I go? Where else can I run?

"Madeline."

She looked up, momentarily loosing herself in his stormy gaze.

"You're afraid."

It was a statement, but she felt inclined to answer him anyway. "Yes."

"Why?"

She flicked her eyes from him, butterflies erupting in her stomach. It was the question she had been dreading, the one she had been running from for three years, the question she scarcely let herself consider, for fear of what would happen if she ever admitted the truth – even to herself.

Do I tell him? Should I tell him? Can I trust him? Do I want to trust him? The questions pulled at her as she stared at the darkly patterned thick carpet, her arms curling around herself protectively. Rowan stayed quiet, but she knew he was still there, the full intensity of his attention focused solely on her. His patience only just winning out over his curiosity as he let her think.

Then out of nowhere the thought hit, leaving her slightly stunned in its wake. I want to tell someone, need to. And I want it to be him. I want to trust him.

"I grew up in a small town, my dad was the Mayor. His dad was before him. We were always considered an influential family, but my dad always wanted more. Craved it." Her voice shook, and she couldn't raise her eyes to meet his, the words tumbling out of the place she had kept locked up for so long.

"My mom was a state beauty pageant winner. She competed in the Miss USA pageant when she was 20. She always thought dad would amount to more than just being Mayor, she had her sights on the Governor's Mansion."