"Who did you tell?"

He glanced at me. "What do you mean?"

"You know damn well what I mean. You refuse to meet with me, and then you show up here...who did you tell?"

Conrad cocked his head slightly, a dark light coming into his jewel-like green eyes. "You think this is my doing?"

"Who else?"

I turned away from his gaze, a little unnerved by his unblinking stare. But I could still feel the heat of his eyes on the back of my head, like little heat lamps burning their way through my scalp into my skull.

"I didn't tell anyone."

I shook my head. I didn't believe him. It made no sense if it wasn't him.

The elevator stopped on the ground floor. When I didn't move quickly enough, Conrad grabbed my arm and led me off the contraption and toward the front doors. I had always kind of liked the lobby of Cepheus, what with its busts of great scientific minds, the revolving doors, and the constellations reproduced on the marble steps. But a small part of me was a little afraid that this was going to be the last time I would see it all, and that made the sight a little less pleasing.

Conrad shoved me into the passenger seat of a small sports car-a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT-that seemed completely appropriate to his personality: small, but with a hell of a lot of power under the hood.

"Where do you live?" he asked as he started the engine.

"Why?"

"You'll need a few things. There's no telling how long this will take."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere safe. Just like Rawn said."

"No."

Conrad glanced over at me-or was he just checking out the traffic?-before gunning the engine and tearing down the block.

"Rawn was pretty clear on his instructions."

"Yeah, well, he didn't know that you're the only person in Portland who knows who I am and likely the one who informed the kidnappers that I was here."

"If I had done that, don't you think they would have grabbed the right girl?" He glanced at me again, his eyes lingering for a moment in places they probably shouldn't have. "You and Madison don't look that much alike."

I glanced down at my full hips and stubby legs, aware of just how little we did look alike. But I couldn't let him have the upper hand.

"We have the same color hair."

"Yeah, but you're at least five inches shorter than her. I think that alone is something even a couple of goons would notice."

"Then who do you think did this?"

Conrad shook his head. "I don't know. Someone who wants information about Cepheus."

"But why would someone involved in corporate espionage want me? I'm like the lowest person on the totem pole."

"You're the Vice President of Product Development's receptionist. You've seen paperwork move through the office that has sensitive information on it."

"Rarely. Russell handles most of that stuff."

Conrad glanced at me. "They don't know that."

I shook my head, twisting slightly to look out the window. None of it made sense to me. If it was someone interested in stealing secrets from Cepheus, they might have been better off to target Madison first. And if it was someone from my past, someone interested in hurting me specifically, Conrad was right when he said they would likely know better what I looked like. So it had to be something else.

But what?

"All I know," Conrad said, "is that Rawn wants me to keep you safe. I gave him my word."

"And your word is everything."

"Isn't yours?"

I couldn't help but smile. He reminded me too much of home.

"You're going the wrong direction. I live on the other side of town."

Madison "Come on, Mellissa."

The doors had finally opened, and the sudden light blinded me. I felt hands on my arms, my shoulders, two, maybe three, pairs of hands. They pulled me into the bright afternoon sunlight, pain flaring in my legs as they attempted to take the weight of my body. They only let me stand for a moment though. One set of hands lifted me up and flipped me over a broad, thick shoulder. Definitely not the guy who approached me at the outlet mall. He was smaller, thinner.

My eyes began to adjust as we walked. I became aware of bright green grass and flowers. Like the landscaping of someone's front yard. But I didn't hear any traffic noise, so, wherever we were, we weren't in the city limits. I wasn't sure what direction we had traveled in, but I never heard the telltale sounds of a bridge, so I'm pretty sure we didn't go north, that we hadn't crossed into Washington State. We could have continued south, toward Salem, or we could have gone west, toward Tillamook. I didn't think we had gone east...that would have taken us toward Mt. Hood, and I was pretty sure we hadn't gone much higher in elevation. But I really couldn't be sure.

All I knew was that they were carrying me into some building that was almost as dark as the van had been, and it had worn wood floors.

Not much to go on.

Please, Rawn, please be looking for me.

Chapter Three.

"Memaw!"

Conrad shot me a look as we walked through the front door of my grandmother's rented house. I ignored him, preferring to run up the stairs to find the two people who should be occupying the house at that moment.

Relief flooded me when I turned the corner at the top of the stairs and spotted my grandmother lying in her bed where I had left her, and the hired nurse, Christy, sitting in a chair beside her.

"You're home early," Christy said, rising and meeting me in the doorway.

"How is she?"

"Resting." Christy glanced behind her. "She seems more lucid today."

"Good."

I stepped back slightly, just as Christy's gaze moved to the top of the stairs. Conrad was there, in all his Texas billionaire glory, his expressive eyes taking in everything in a single glance. I tried to ignore him as I attempted to step between Christy and him. Being short could be a disadvantage at all the wrong times. Christy was at least six inches taller than me-she could have seen him no better if I had simply disappeared.

"Can you stay the night?" I asked.

Christy's eyebrows rose, as she reluctantly pulled her eyes from Conrad back to my face. "Working late?" she asked with a slight smile.

"Something like that."

"Sure." She turned back into the room. "We'll be fine."

I stole one more glance at my grandmother, reluctant to wake her, but anxious to make sure she was okay. What if the kidnappers came here looking for me? What if they found her-vulnerable and practically alone-and took their revenge out on her?

I wasn't sure I could survive the loss of one more person I loved.

Conrad had moved up behind me, and he laid his hands lightly on my shoulders.

"I can have Rawn send someone out to check on them from time to time."

"How long is this going to go on? What if they-"

Conrad pulled me backward, leading me down the length of the hall before he turned me around so that we were standing impossibly close, his back bent so that we were nearly face to face.

"You can't let the what-ifs take control. It'll just drive you insane, make you paranoid. And when you're paranoid, you make mistakes."

I knew he was right. When it was just me, when I was only fighting for my own survival, it was easy to keep my head where it was supposed to be. But now there was an implied threat against my grandmother. I had already lost so much. How was I supposed to keep my head on straight now?

I started to shake my head. Conrad pressed his hand to my cheek, his thumb brushing softly against my bottom lip. I knew I should pull away. I couldn't trust him. He was part of the past, of the same past I was trying to outrun when I came to Portland. How could I have known he would be here, that I would walk into that launch party last week and see him standing there with my boss? Who knew her Conrad was the same Conrad who used to hang out outside my uncle's bar? Who knew he was the same Conrad who'd seen my picture on my uncle's desk a dozen times, who would know me the second he pulled his eyes away from Aurora and that actress they'd been talking to, and that he would recognize me even though it had been years since the last time anyone had seen my uncle?

I knew the moment he saw me that he remembered. I tried to avoid him all night, but I got distracted by the star party, and then he was just there.

"I know you," he said, as he came up from behind me. "Your name is Mellissa Cambray."

I knew then I was in trouble.

And not just because he knew who I was.

"I wish you wouldn't," I whispered, as I ducked my head to move out of his reach, inadvertently leading the way into my bedroom.

And, of course, he followed.

"You have to learn to trust me."

I glanced over at him, a little taken aback by the way he stood casually in the doorway, almost as if he felt like he belonged there.

"It's hard to trust someone when I know so little about him."

"What do you want to know?"

Did you turn me in?

I turned back to the drawer I had been hunting through, blushing when I realized I had a handful of panties in my hands. I dropped them and opened another drawer, pulling out a stack of blue jeans and tossing them onto the bed.

"How long will I be gone?"

Conrad shook his head. "Don't know."

"This can't go on for very long, can it? I mean, surely Rawn will find Madison-"

"I don't know, Mellissa."

His tone made me look up from my search for a few comfortable t-shirts. There was a certain amount of exhaustion in his voice, as though the idea of this thing dragging out for very long was just tiresome to him.

"You don't have to watch over me. I've done this before, I can do it again."

"Rawn wants you kept under lock and key."

"And you do everything Rawn tells you to do?"

"He's a friend." Conrad pushed away from the doorframe and stepped into the room, moving close to my bed and touching the bedspread like he had been imagining what it would feel like against his flesh. "I owe him."

"Owe him what?"

Conrad just shook his head. "You need to pack. We should be on our way as quickly as possible."

"You don't think someone followed us here?"

"I think we shouldn't take chances."

That spurred me into action. I quickly withdrew a stack of shirts from a bottom drawer and dug a duffle bag out of the closet. I was packed in less than a minute.

"Let's go."

Conrad drove me to an apartment complex on the outskirts of the city overlooking the river. We took the elevator to the top floor, where I half expected the doors to open onto some sort of luxurious penthouse apartment. Everyone knew that Conrad was wealthy. There was a rumor that he inherited billions from his grandfather or someone. And I assumed that the fact that he had keys to this building meant he owned the apartment we were headed toward, right?

But when we stepped off the elevator, there were two doors. Two apartments.

"Rawn owns the building. That's his apartment," he said, pointing to the door on the left. "And this is where we're supposed to hang out for the time being."