CHAPTER THREE

      SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE said that.

      It had been unnecessary. And stupidly provocative. An emotional response when she should’ve given a calm, clinical dismissal. Just like she’d trained herself to. Bullies fed on emotional reactions. Hadn’t she learned that the long, hard way as a teenager?

      So why did she say that? Why had she provoked him?

      Probably because she’d wanted to annoy the overbearing man the same way he’d annoyed her by interrupting her training session. The session she’d paid hard-earned money for. The private session she used to settle herself and regain her peace of mind. Sage wasn’t ashamed to admit she needed these sessions like she needed oxygen. A successful audition was her ultimate goal, of course, but to her dancing would always be more than a career. She’d sacrificed so much to even get here.

      She’d had more right to be on that stage than he had. So why had she walked away like that?

      Because those silver-grey eyes and all that leashed animal power had threatened to knock every piece of common sense out of her head the moment he’d prowled to the edge of the stage and stared up at her from a position that should’ve been inferior, but had somehow made her feel small and vulnerable. Singled out. In a way that awakened disturbing memories. And yet it’d been a little different...

      Or perhaps it’d been the moment he’d leaped oh-so-gracefully onto the stage and prowled towards her like a marauding predator intent on prying the information he needed from her.

      Regardless of that, she should’ve stepped up to him and just coolly dismissed the man. But no. Once again, she’d let her control slip, lashed out in response to Xandro Christofides’s deliberate baiting.

      She’d threatened him with bodily harm, for goodness’ sake, when she of all people knew how destructive that was!

      Sage suppressed a shiver at the unwanted memories, and hurried along the back corridor that led to the locker rooms of the Washington Performance School.

      Her skin still tingled from the charged almost-contact with Xandro Christofides. She could hear his deep, rumbling voice in her ear, feel the electricity sparking from him sizzling along her nerve endings.

      ‘You will tell me when you last spoke to him, and where I can find him.’

      No please or thank you from the infuriating man. She was certain he was like that all the time, tossing orders around like confetti at a wedding and expecting people to jump.

      Except she’d stopped jumping at orders, had drawn a very painful, but definitive line at being controlled. She was no longer willing to be anyone’s puppet, to have her strings pulled this way or that to suit what her parents deemed her destiny. It had come at a huge cost—one she was still paying.

      She wasn’t about to let the enigmatic stranger add to her woes.

      Good heavens, he’d been too much. Too handsome, too incisive, too...everything! And he’d probably seen through her half-truth.

      It was true she had no idea where Ben was. They weren’t scheduled to make their pledged once-a-month call for another two weeks, and the last she’d heard from him he’d still been in Las Vegas.

      Dear God, Ben, what have you done?

      Her brother had grown increasingly bitter over the last year, his side of their conversations turning rant-filled with constant laments on his favourite subject lately—the financial disparity between the classes.

      He shouldn’t have been in a place like Vegas in the first place. Not when it’d become heartbreakingly clear he was developing a gambling problem six months ago. She’d urged him to seek help. He’d vehemently denied the existence of the problem but he’d made a reluctant promise to call and check in once a month so she wouldn’t worry.

      She only had Xandro Christofides’s word that her brother had stolen from him but Sage knew in her bones that it was highly likely to be true.

      So should she have stayed to talk to Christofides? Pleaded on her brother’s behalf even before she knew for sure he’d done anything wrong?

      No. She owed Xandro Christofides nothing, and her instincts warned her he was the type to take a mile when given an inch. She didn’t have an inch to give. Not when each day that passed was a reminder that her every inch she’d given had got her nowhere. When it’d come right down to it she’d been left on her own. Her parents had chosen their business, their precious way of life, over her.

      Only Ben had been there for her. Only he had believed her.

      Her loyalty was to her brother, not the boss who looked as if he chewed rocks for breakfast. Sage slammed the locker shut and hitched her backpack over her shoulder. In return for what Ben had done for her, she was prepared to stand up to a hundred Xandro Christofideses.

      Except only one of them stood tall and proud and immovable before her when she stepped out of the side entrance onto the quiet side street in Washington, DC.

      If she’d thought he looked intimidating in the low lights of the auditorium, the man in front of her looked downright terrifying despite the civilised bespoke clothing he wore.

      Her hand tightened around the strap of the backpack as she fought a wave of panic.

      Walk away. Just keep walking.

      ‘I guess I was right in thinking you’re not great at taking no for an answer. What are you going to do this time, kidnap me?’ Damn. She really needed to find a way to get her tongue to obey her brain.

      Brooding eyes rested on her. ‘I wish you no harm. And while it’s rare, Miss Woods, I’ve been known to accept no on occasion. What I find unacceptable, however, are lies. I know you’re lying about your knowledge of your brother’s whereabouts.’ The words were clipped, coated in cold steel.

      Icy fingers whispered down her spine, but Sage forced herself not to react with another outburst. ‘And you intend to prove that how, exactly?’ she asked coolly.

      His jaw flexed and he seemed to grow larger before her even though he didn’t move an inch. ‘Word to the wise: don’t toy with me. I have very little patience for this exercise. Your brother has taken something very valuable to me. The quicker you work with me to ensure its safe return, the more...lenient I’m prepared to be.’

      Her mouth dried. Then she caught the tail end of his words. ‘Are you saying you haven’t reported him yet?’ There was more than a little hope in her voice. And he heard it.

      Heard it and was less than thrilled about it, if the harsh twist of his lips was anything to go by.

      ‘No such luck, Miss Woods. The authorities in Vegas have been informed of the theft and your brother will face the consequences of his actions when I find him, but you can help mitigate the extent of his punishment by telling me where he is now.’

      Her breath snagged in her lungs. ‘You want me to help you put my own brother behind bars?’ she whispered in a voice that felt as weak as her legs.

      ‘He’s committed a crime. Are you naive enough to think he can walk away from it scot-free?’ the powerful man in front of her demanded.

      She swallowed. ‘I have nothing else to say to you so if that’s all you’re here for—’