Uncovering You 6: Deliverance by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

accident . . . caused by me . . . made me realize the truth I’ve been hiding from for so long.”
    “Oh?” I challenge. “And what truth is that?”
    He takes the last step towards me and wraps me in his arms. “That I do love you.”

     
     

Chapter Four
     
    We’re late for brunch. After all that‘s happened in the preceding hour, I feel understandably flustered.
    It’s not just Jeremy’s declaration that has my mind spinning. It’s the way he went about making it, the ease with which he shifted swiftly between his personas. It’s the knowledge that he’s been harboring these feelings for me and was still capable of doing something like triggering my collar, or shocking Paul, and subsequently reveling in his power over us.
    It’s him giving me the brooch and then wavering and taking it off. It’s the removal of the collar, so much sooner than I could have dreamed of, and the fact that, at some point last night, he considered putting it back.
    Does that means he brought it with him on this trip? Is it still somewhere in his possession? The thought causes an uncomfortable shiver to crawl down my spine.
    I look over my left shoulder at him. He’s driving. I’ve never seen him do that before. The inside of the rented white Bentley is as beautiful as the outside. The cream leather upholstery matches the light wood trim. Jeremy behind the wheel, performing such an ordinary, everyday task, seems . . . vulnerable. It makes him mortal. Something tells me that beneath the persona of the richly, successful business mogul lies a common man.
    Of course, Jeremy Stonehart is anything but common. Still, seeing him drive makes him seem more accessible.
    He notices me looking, then glances over—and winks. I’m so startled by the gesture that I almost jump.
    “Don’t worry,” he says. “I have absolute faith in you. You’ll be perfect this morning, Lilly, as you always are.” His eyes darken for a split second. “You know the cost of failure.” Then he looks back to the road. “But I have no fear of there being any chance of that, as long as you abide by the rules.”
    The rules. The rules. It’s always the rules with Jeremy. Of course, I know that he has no other choice. He doesn’t have an alternative. In situations that he cannot directly control — like the meeting this morning—his rules ensure that I do not step out of line.
    Again, he told me of them just before we left. And again, he kept them simple and easy to understand. Complexity leads to confusion which increases the chances of non-compliance , ashe’d explainedto me . And non-compliance leads to . . . well, I don’t want to even think of the things he’s threatened.
    Jeremy told me to approach the meeting as if it were occurring under regular circumstances. There did not have to be anything frightening or unnerving about it. The only thing I had to watch for was what I revealed about the months since I dropped off the face of the earth.
    He had a long story for me—one that he made me repeat six times before we left the hotel. The final time he asked me to do so, I was so frustrated with the process that I screamed it out at him.
    That earned nothing more than chuckle and a steady, “You’re ready.”
    Like he’d told Thalia last night, I was a star at Corfu Consulting. Word of the orbital success of my first, then second, then third advertising campaign, all for ZilTech, reached the ears of the president of the parent company . . . who just happened to be Stonehart. He was present at the launch of ZilTech latest consumer technology product. This happened just weeks before Christmas in time for the holidays. The story checked out because there were pictures of him talking at the event, congratulating the team on a successful launch.
    At the same time, I was trapped on that blasted chair, in the dark.
    Of course, the consultants who assisted with planning the campaign were present at the event as guests. They were not visible in the