Somewhere above her, a man cleared his throat. She opened her eyes again, letting them adjust to the dim room. Sean stared down at her, a pained expression on his face. She blinked and shifted again, feeling the soft rub of the blanket on her bare stomach. Suddenly, she froze. Bare stomach? Was she naked? She glanced down at her chest, horrified to see her bare breasts peeking out of the blanket. She grabbed the blanket and pulled it all the way up to her shoulders. Sean made a low sound in his throat—it almost sounded like a laugh. She looked up at him, but his face was serious and dark.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

​​

Her mouth felt dry and fuzzy, " Thirsty."

He shifted beneath her and grabbed a glass of water from the nightstand. Cradling her head like a baby, he held the water to her lips and helped her drink. Slowly, she sipped the cool water.

"Better?" he asked.

"Mhmm," he said.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. "I just feel a bit fuzzy."

"Do you remember what happened?" he asked, his voice thick with worry.

"I do," she said. "It was all a trap."

"It was," he said.

She looked up at his face, studying the firm set of his jaw, the frown that clung to his lips, and the distant look in his eye.

"Are you mad?" she asked.

"Mad doesn't begin to cover it," he said.

She shivered at the dangerous tone in his voice. For a moment, she'd been happy to wake in his arms, but it seemed that their marriage was doomed. Every time things started to get better, they took a sudden turn for the worse. Her eyes teared up, and she swallowed hard—she didn't want to cry in front of him again.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Oh, honey," he said, his voice turning much softer. "I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" she asked.

"No," he said. "I wish you weren't so reckless, but that man, that monster—he drugged you."

"I tried to fight it," she whispered.

"I know you did," he said. "But you have to promise me to stop fighting."

"I don't start the fights on purpose," she said, feeling stung. "I'm just defending myself."

He sighed long and slow, "Danger really does seem to follow you everywhere."

Silence fell over the room, and she closed her eyes. Her body felt heavy, and she wished she could slip back into sleep.

"Wait," she said, opening her eyes. "What about Sophia?"

"What about her?" Sean asked.

"Adam took her too," she said. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," he said. "She said she wasn't injured, so Drew had one of my men drive her home. She was drugged too, you know."

"She was?" Catherine asked, her stomach twisting with guilt. "That bastard."

"Catherine," he said, sounding choked again. "I need you to tell me what happened."

"It started with the fondue," she said quietly. "There was a waitress who—"

"No," he interrupted. "In the hotel room."

The image of the dark room flashed before her eyes, and she shuddered slightly.

"I know it might be painful to remember, but I need to know what happened," he said.

"I went to the room, and he already had Sophia tied up on the bed," she said. "I went to help her, and he injected me with something. I fought him as best I could, but the room was spinning, and I wasn't able to knock him out."

"And?" he asked.

"It got really hard to stay conscious," she said. "I noticed that pain helped me stay awake. At first, I just bit my tongue, but then that wasn't enough, and I had to bite my arm. He liked the blood, I think."

"What do you mean?" Sean asked.

"He—well—he licked it," she stammered.

"He did what?" Sean asked, each word slow and choked.

"He licked the blood," she said. "He grabbed me and licked it, and I tried to fight, but it was so hard. The whole time, he was saying horrible things, just to upset me."

"Like what?" Sean asked.

"I don't remember," she lied.

She could feel his eyes on her, and she looked away. His entire body shook with barely controlled rage, and his eyes were pure ice. She was terrified of what would happen if she repeated Adam's words.

"Anyway," she continued quickly. "We fought, and then he got me onto the bed. He was going to rape Sophia, and I tried to help her, so he started choking me, and that's when you came."

Sean began, "Did he, you know, did he—"

"No, he didn't violate me," she said quickly.

His body relaxed against hers. "Thank god," he whispered, pressing his lips to her hair.

"You got there in time," she said.

"Barely," he whispered. "Don't do this to me again, honey. I can't take it."

"I don't do it on purpose, you know," she said gently.

"I know," he said. "But you take too many risks. You knew it was a trap, so why did you walk into it?"

"I didn't want to leave Sophia," she whispered.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have tried to handle it on my own. I should have waited for help. I was just scared that the police wouldn't arrive in time, and I heard her screaming and—"

"You have a kind heart," he said. "But you need to stop with the heroics. You need to trust other people to help you."

She closed her eyes. In her last life, she'd learned that trusting people only led to pain and humiliation. She trusted Madison and the Stewart, and they'd betrayed her. She'd trusted Marco, but he'd only abused and hurt her. She'd learned to be independent and to rely on herself—everyone else disappointed her.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said.

"That's not true," he insisted. "I can see it on your face."

"I'm just tired," she said. It wasn't a lie, she was exhausted.

"Okay," he said gently. "You can sleep soon."

"Soon?" she asked.

"I need to ask you some more questions," he said.

"About what happened?" she asked.

"How do you know the man who attacked you?" he asked. "This Adam, where do you know him from?"

"We went to primary school together," she said. "I never liked him—he always bullied Sophia and me. I haven't seen him since I left school."

"Where did you see him tonight?" he asked.

"I ran into him at the party," she said. "It was just after Geoffrey's accident. He found me and made a big show of reintroducing himself. He wouldn't leave me alone, really. I thought he was pushy, but I had no idea he was so disgusting."

"Is there a reason he went after you?" Sean asked.

"I can think of a few," Catherine said. "I'm sure someone put him up to it. I think he tried to lure me away naturally first. He was flirting a lot and seemed confused when he learned I was married. Once it was clear I was uninterested, I think he switched to Plan B."

"You mean using Sophia as bait?" Sean asked.