The meeting with her father was a trap.
Isla realized it the moment they walked into Malcolm Thornton's office and found it empty except for her cousin Adrian, lounging in her father's chair like he owned the place. His smile was warm, familiar, completely wrong.
'Isla! Thank God you're safe.' Adrian stood, arms outstretched. 'We've all been so worried.'
Ryder's hand found the small of her back—possessive, protective, a silent message. Something's off. She felt it too. Her father would never miss this meeting. Never send Adrian in his place without warning.
'Where's my father?' she asked, not moving closer.
'Emergency board meeting in London. Last-minute crisis with the European acquisitions.' Adrian's smile never wavered. 'He asked me to brief your... bodyguard... on the new security protocols.'
Lie. Her father had mentioned nothing about London. And Adrian had never been involved in security decisions. Ever.
'We'll reschedule.' Ryder's voice was flat, final. His hand pressed more firmly against her back. Leave. Now.
'Wait—I have information about the stalker. Evidence Dad wanted you to see.' Adrian pulled a folder from the desk. 'Please, Isla. Five minutes.'
She hesitated, and that hesitation nearly cost everything. The office door slammed shut behind them. Locks engaged automatically. Adrian's warm smile morphed into something colder, hungrier.
'I'm sorry it has to be this way,' he said, pulling a gun from the desk drawer. 'But you've always been mine, cousin. Since we were children. You just never noticed.'
Ryder moved faster than thought, shoving Isla behind him, weapon drawn. 'Put it down. Now.'
'You're outnumbered.' Adrian gestured to the air vents. 'I have three men with rifles aimed at this office. You so much as twitch wrong, and they paint the walls with you both.'
Isla's mind raced. Adrian. Her cousin. The one who'd comforted her after her mother's death. Who'd helped her study for business school exams. Who'd always been just... there. Benign. Harmless. Family.
'It was you,' she breathed. 'The whole time. The cameras, the stalking, the kidnapping attempt—'
'I needed you to need protection. Needed you isolated, afraid, dependent.' Adrian's eyes were fever-bright, obsessive. 'I've loved you since we were sixteen, Isla. Watched you date those worthless boys, throw yourself into work, ignore what was right in front of you. Me. Always me.'
'You're insane.' The words escaped before she could stop them.
'I'm devoted.' He stood, the gun steady in his hand. 'And now you're going to come with me quietly, or I'll kill your bodyguard and drag you out anyway. Your choice.'
'She's not going anywhere.' Ryder's voice was death itself.
'Then you die first.' Adrian's finger tightened on the trigger.
Everything happened at once. Ryder shoved Isla toward the floor, his body covering hers completely as gunfire erupted. The windows shattered—not from Adrian's shot, but from outside. SWAT team. Her father hadn't abandoned her. He'd set a trap.
Adrian screamed, diving for cover as tactical teams swarmed the office. Ryder hauled Isla up, dragging her behind the desk as chaos exploded around them. More gunfire. Shouting. The acrid smell of gunpowder and fear.
'Stay down!' Ryder's body was a shield, his hands checking her frantically for injuries. 'Are you hit? Isla, look at me—are you hit?'
'No. No, I'm fine.' But she was shaking violently, adrenaline and betrayal warring in her chest. Adrian. Her cousin. Her stalker. Her would-be kidnapper.
The firefight ended as quickly as it started. Adrian was dragged away in handcuffs, screaming her name, professing love that sounded like madness. Isla watched through Ryder's arms, numb and hollowed out.
Her father appeared, flanked by federal agents. 'We've been investigating Adrian for three weeks. Ever since the financial discrepancies appeared. The stalking, the cameras—we suspected but needed proof. Tonight was bait.'
'You used me as bait.' Isla's voice was hollow.
'We used him as bait. You were never in real danger. I had sharpshooters on every angle, agents in every corridor.' Malcolm's expression was granite. 'He's going to prison for a very long time.'
But Isla barely heard him. The betrayal was too deep, too personal. Adrian had been family. Had held her when she cried over her mother. Had celebrated her business school graduation. Had been woven into every important moment of her life.
And he'd been watching her. Violating her. Obsessing over her with sick, twisted devotion masked as familial love.
'I need to leave.' She pulled away from Ryder, suddenly unable to breathe in the destroyed office. 'I need—I can't—'
'I've got you.' Ryder's arm came around her waist, supporting her weight as her legs threatened to give out. 'Let's go. Now.'
He guided her past agents, past her father's clinical debriefing, past the media already gathering outside the building. Into the SUV. Into motion. Away from the epicenter of her unraveling world.
They drove in silence. Isla stared out the window, seeing nothing, her mind replaying every interaction with Adrian through this new, sickening lens. Every time he'd hugged her. Every family dinner. Every innocent moment now contaminated by his hidden obsession.
'Where are we going?' she asked finally.
'Somewhere safe. Somewhere no one knows about. Somewhere you can fall apart without an audience.' Ryder's voice was gentle, understanding. 'You're allowed to break, Isla. After what just happened, you're allowed.'
'I thought I knew him.' Her voice cracked. 'He was family. How did I not see it?'
'Because he hid it well. Because you trusted him. Because family is supposed to be safe.' Ryder's hand found hers, squeezed. 'This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault.'
But it felt like her fault. Felt like she should have known, should have sensed the sickness beneath Adrian's smile, should have protected herself better.
They pulled up to a small cabin an hour outside the city. Isolated. Private. Peaceful in a way that felt alien after weeks of chaos.
'My uncle's place,' Ryder explained, helping her out. 'He's overseas. Left me the keys. No one knows about this. We can breathe here.'
Inside, Isla finally fell apart. The sobs came from somewhere deep and primal, grief and betrayal and relief all tangled together. Ryder held her through it, his strong arms the only stable thing in her spinning world.
'I've got you,' he murmured into her hair. 'I've got you, and I'm not letting go.'
She clung to him, this man who'd become her anchor in the storm. Who'd protected her body and was now protecting her heart as it shattered into pieces.
When the tears finally stopped, she pulled back, wiping her face. 'I'm sorry. That was—'
'Human. That was human.' Ryder cupped her face, thumbs brushing away remaining tears. 'You don't have to be strong right now. You don't have to be perfect. You can just... be.'
The permission broke something loose in her chest. She kissed him. Not gentle, not tentative. Desperate and needy and seeking comfort in the only way that made sense. He kissed her back with matching desperation, pouring weeks of restrained want into the contact.
'Isla—' he broke away, breathing hard. 'You're processing trauma. I can't—we shouldn't—'
'I know what I'm doing.' She pulled him back. 'I know what I want. And I want you. Not because of trauma or fear or proximity. Because you're the only real thing in my life right now. The only person who's been completely honest. Please, Ryder. Make me feel something other than betrayed.'
His control shattered. He kissed her like he was claiming her, backing her toward the bedroom with clear intent. This was happening. Finally, inevitably, completely.
And Isla surrendered to it, surrendered to him, letting passion burn away everything else.