“Leah,” I said forcing myself to remain calm. “Please, open the door. I want to talk to you.”
I waited. I could hear water splashing. The cabinets squeaking as they opened and closed.
“Come on, Leah. Please open the door.” It sounded like I was begging. I didn’t like the tone of my voice but I was desperate. I needed to talk to her.
But it worked. She opened the door. One hand held a piece of tissue pressed to the cut above her eye.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” I asked.
“It’s not a big deal and I don’t want you to overreact.”
Tension tightened my brow. “I don’t overreact. What makes you think I would overreact?”
“I just think that you will. But you can’t. You really can’t,” Leah said. “We’re not ready. The wrong move could make things so much worse. We can’t take risks.”
“Ready? Ready for what? Leah, you have to tell me what’s going on. You can’t keep me in the dark forever,” I said.
Leah let out a long exhale. “I wasn’t far from home when they pulled me between two buildings.”
“Who’s they?” I asked. “Which two buildings? I’m not following.”
“Two female guards,” Leah said.
“And then they hit you?” I asked lightly touching her just below the scratch on her cheek. It was red and swollen, and even though I didn’t touch it, she winced.
Leah looked down. “They pushed me around a bit. I didn’t fight back, though. If I would have, I’d have been arrested again. It was just hard for me to stand there and take it, you know?”
“Why were they pushing you around?” I asked. “I should go out there and—”
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” Leah said rolling her eyes. “There isn’t anything we can do about it.”
I let out a slow, controlled breath. “Why did they do this? What was the purpose?”
“They gave me a message,” Leah said pressing her lips together for a quick moment. “It’s a message for both of us.”
“What’s the message?” I asked.
“Eva hopes we’re enjoying the amenities of the resort,” Leah said. She kept her head down but her eyes flicked upward, locking with mine.
My eyes narrowed. “That’s the message? I knew she wasn’t done with us. We need to enjoy it while it lasts, that’s what she should have said. But she does like her games.”
“That’s essentially what it breaks down to,” Leah said.
“Why did they have to do this to you?” I asked slipping my hand behind her neck. My thumb grazed her soft cheek.
“She wanted to make sure you got the message,” Leah said. “Eva wants to make sure you know she’s serious and to be fair, I got a little snippy with them. Perhaps this could have been avoided.”
I shook my head. “They’ve probably been waiting weeks for us to be alone.”
“Or maybe she hasn’t been sitting on this could be something she thought of when your dad left the room,” Leah said.
The taste in my mouth turned sour. “You don’t think my dad’s in on this, do you?”
“No,” Leah said firmly. “I really don’t think so.”
“I can’t believe I even questioned it. He’s my dad.”
“He’s being taken advantage of, that’s what it is.”
I let out a breath. “Eva is good at getting what she wants.”
“Which means we won’t be here long,” Leah said.
“Still,” I said looking at the scratch on her face. “This wasn’t necessary. What did you say to them?”
“Nothing that bad.” Leah smirked. “After they gave me the message, I told them to go to hell.”
My jaw tensed. “They could have taken you away.”
“Which is why I controlled myself,” Leah said.
“It doesn’t matter, you didn’t deserve this,” I said with a sigh.
“This is why it’s important for us to get our bags packed,” Leah said. “Our suspicions have been confirmed. Just like we thought, our time here is limited.”
“Eva isn’t going to do anything that would mess up her relationship with my dad, though,” I said. “She isn’t going to pull anything that could put their relationship at risk and I don’t think he’d let her get away with kicking me out of the resort.”
Leah shrugged. “I don’t feel as confident about that as you do. She wouldn’t have done this if she thought you’d tell him, though. How long was she your girlfriend?”
“Much too long,” I replied.
“She knows you well enough to know you won’t take this to your dad,” Leah said. “That’s why she did it.”
I sighed. “And she’s right. At least for now, I won’t say anything but if they try something like this again, you can bet I’ll tell him. I’ll take it to Mr. Tate if I have to.”
“Should we do that?” Leah asked biting her lip. She shook her head. “I don’t think it’ll do any good. In fact, it could make things worse.”
I took her hand into mine and lowered it away from the cut. It wasn’t deep and it had already stopped bleeding but my anger wasn’t subsiding.
“Adam,” Leah said squeezing my hand. “It’s just a scratch. I’ve endured much worse than this in my life.”
“But not because of me. I wish I would have never met her,” I said. “How did I not realize the type of person she was?”
“She’s a good actress,” Leah said.
“You can’t do anything like that again. We never leave this cabin on our own again. Not even with my dad,” I said wrapping my arms around her. I pulled back and stared into her eyes. “Promise?”
“Of course,” Leah said. “It wasn’t like I wanted to go with
