Adored by the Billionaire 5
Chapter One
Sitting in the hall, Paige huddled in against the coat Reynolds had given her and sipped on the steaming coffee in the plastic cup. It was supposed to have a taste, some kind of sickly sweet latte concoction. But right now, as she swilled the lukewarm liquid around in her mouth, it didn’t have a taste. Nothing had taste.
The latte wasn’t something she’d have chosen for herself, if she’d been given the choice but still she cradled it against her hands and sipped at it. The heat the cup held gave her fingers a sort of superficial heat, it was better than nothing and it helped to camouflage the numbness that had invaded all of her senses.
As long as she continued to stare down at the cup she didn’t have to meet the curious and probing stares of the other officers milling in and out of the apartment.
“Paige?”
The sound of her name was almost startling and for a moment Paige allowed herself to be utterly lost in the pain and confusion she felt. Only he would call her name like that.
“Will.”
His name was the only word on her lips, it was the only word that mattered.
“Paige, is there anyone I can call to come and get you?” Detective Reynolds kept his voice low.
To Paige’s numbed mind it sounded as though he were addressing a child and it irritated her. She wasn’t a child and she didn’t need to be treated with kid gloves.
Anger.
Blinding rage.
If she could just find the energy to get angry then she could fight the fog that had descended over her.
If she could just do that, then perhaps they’d take note of her, start answering some of her questions. She needed to know why they had taken Will, she needed to know what they were thinking and how they could have gotten everything so wrong?
“I don’t understand…” Paige started to speak, her voice betraying just how confused she really was.
“I know this is difficult but you need to move past Will. You need to forget about him and…”
Paige stood suddenly, clutching the coat around her shoulders in an attempt to stop it from slipping down her arms and exposing her body.
“Are you crazy? You expect me to just walk away from the man I love, that I could just walk away from him?”
“You don’t understand, Paige… He’s not a good man, he used you and the things he allowed Christopher to do to those poor women.” Reynolds shook his head and the movement made Paige want to lash out and slap him. Her hand tingled at the thought of just doing it and it took all of her strength to keep her hand down at her side.
“It’s not true, Will would never hurt those women, he helped save them. He stopped Christopher when none of the rest of you could.”
“And did you ever think why it was so easy for Will to get close to Christopher when no one else could? Did you never find it suspicious that Will knew about Freedom Island, that he could land there without issue?”
“Without issue?” Paige moved away from Reynolds, her tone filled with derision.
“You’re just like all the other cops, jumping to conclusions when you have no idea what you’re talking about.
“There were issues… There was a whole mess of issues and a high price was paid for that victory against Christopher.”
Paige started for the stairs and Reynolds moved after her. His hand wrapped around her upper arm and Paige struggled to shake him free but he refused to release her.
“What price was paid, Paige?”
“Let me go, Reynolds, I don’t owe you this.”
He tried to hold onto Paige’s arm but she twisted from his grip and started down the stairs. There was only one thought in her mind, only one person she could turn to in this situation.
Paige paused outside the apartment building, her stomach in knots as she stared up at the darkened windows. There was only one person who would understand what had happened at Freedom Island, only one person that she could turn to and ask for help. Of course if he wanted he could simply close the door in her face.
Paige started up to the door and pushed it open.
The stark and empty downstairs lobby was lit with an ugly yellow light and it cast everything with a sickly yellow glow. Paint had peeled from the walls, leaving entire patches of dry wall exposed. And as her eyes adjusted to the cruel lighting she could see the cobwebs that crowded the corners. It was as though the very building itself was sick and the lighting was only emphasising the issue.
Everything about the place made Paige want to simply get away from it.
She climbed the stairs, her feet feeling like lead weights as each stair squeaked in protest. Each step she took seemed harder than the one before.
There had to be a reason why the cops had come from Will but Paige had no idea why. Every time she’d asked Reynolds he’d ignored the question or rapidly changed the subject. Whatever the new evidence was, it had to be particularly damning and that frightened Paige. She had no doubt about Will’s innocence, someone had to be setting him up. But whoever it was, clearly knew what they were doing and how was Paige supposed to fight that?
She paused outside the apartment door, her hand raised and poised to knock. If he turned her away there was no one left. Anders couldn’t be trusted and part of Paige had already considered the possibility that Anders was in fact the one behind the the set-up.
If it was Anders then Paige knew it was just going to be a matter of time before he came for her. If he killed her then there was only one other who knew the truth about Freedom Island.
Paige knocked, her heartbeat echoing in her ears making her light headed as she waited for him to come to the door.
Aidan pulled the door open, his eyes alert despite the fact that he had obviously been in bed. His sandy brown hair had grown out from the severe army cut he had opted for when he had gone to Freedom Island. But that wasn’t the only change Paige noticed in him.
The haunted and rage filled look that had lurked beneath the surface of his eyes on Freedom Island was now gone. Something had erased it from him and it made him look younger. Vulnerable even.
There was only one thing on this earth that could do that and Paige knew it only too well.
Love.
To love was to leave yourself open, vulnerable. Loving Will had meant giving him the power to destroy her and it was something she had given willing, something she would do over and over.
Aidan had that exact same look and there was only one woman who could have changed him so completely.
He leaned against the half opened door and Paige caught sight of the gun he held in his hand. For a moment it surprised her and her heart raced within her chest and then it was gone. It was just like Aidan, something had changed in him but it seemed he still had his old habits.
“Hi, Aidan…” Paige shuffled outside the door, suddenly unsure of what she needed to say to him. How could she explain everything? It was all one giant jumbled mess.
“Paige? What are you doing here, where’s Will?” Aidan leaned out, his eyes scanning the hall.
Once his gaze returned to Paige’s she felt her eyes fill with tears and she struggled to hold them at bay.
“They’ve arrested him, Aidan. They’ve accused him of working with Christopher on Freedom Island and they’ve arrested him.”
Aidan’s mouth dropped open, his shock was genuine and it all suddenly became too much for Paige. The weight of the situation crushed in on her and she found herself crumpling to the floor as panicked sobs escaped her.
