When we arrived and exited the car, the camera flashes burst around us like fireworks. Rogue gently placed his hand in the small of my back and ushered me to move forward. My nervousness changed to exhilaration as we advanced through the dozens of reporters whose cameras continued to flash, almost blinding me. I staggered, and Rogue caught me, smiling down at me as if he meant it.

I didn't smile or bothered to look at the reporters when I knew it would be a waste of time. He controlled the media. I knew my pictures would not be plastered on the front pages or any page for that matter. I had a feeling I might even be photoshopped out of the picture.

Waiting inside the doors was a man who enthusiastically greeted Rogue with a few people who were equally anxious to speak him. Rogue wasn't kidding when he told me no one would be interested in me unless he introduced me to them, which the asshole didn't. I hang onto his arm like a shiny trophy, but it was better than putting on a pleasant smile and pretending I wasn't out with my kidnapper.

As we mingled, Rogue took two glasses of champagne from a passing server and handed one to me. I didn't decline, but I also didn't drink it. Rogue looked different with these people, chatty, charming, as he greeted and was greeted by people. His popularity didn't shock me. Many people wanted to talk to him, and he knew all their names. His social skills captivated me. This was probably what got everyone to love him. The face he put on with them was astounding. One couldn't tell the monster that hid behind the dazzling face.

"Beth." He smiled down at me as he set his hand on the bare skin of my lower back and a shock of awareness moved through me. I wondered if he felt what I felt. His lips brushed against my ear. "I'm going to leave you alone now. I have some business to take care of. Behave, and remember every action has consequences. It can be positive or negative. You choose which one you desire."

Pulling away, his hand dropped from my back as I watched him walk away with a man. They drifted through the crowd before I turned away from them. My eyes were glued to the exit door, and my heart sank when I saw eight security guards hovering around it. One of them even lifted his hand and waved at me. I knew they were his men, here to prevent me from escaping, and the wave meant they were here and watching me.

Bastard.

I was forced to hang around at the bar. When the bartender offered me a drink, I declined. But I asked him if he had a pen and a napkin. Excitement ran through me when he handed those things to me. I turned around to see if Rogue was keeping an eye on me, but he was engrossed in a conversation. Turning my back towards him, I started to write on the napkin and quickly stuffed it in my bra.

"Whatcha got there?"

I twisted around to see an elegant woman staring back at me with a secretive smile. She was exotic and a bit taller than me. Her chocolate skin was glistening under the lights, her lips were full, and her posture screamed confident and self-assured.

"Nothing," I quickly said, diverting my attention from her. Of course, someone had to see that. Did she work for Rogue? Did Rogue send her to me? Shit.

"Doesn't look like nothing," she pushed, moving closer to me. Her perfume was sweet and flowery, her gaze so sharp I could feel it cutting through my skin.

"Excuse me." I hurried to escape from her peering eyes, and when I walked past a server, I dropped the napkin on the tray.

Beth The Dumb strike again.

I kept my gaze on the server, walking beside him, but a few feet away. He passed drinks to the guests, but no one picked up the napkin. I thought my plan wasn't going to work, until I saw a middle-aged woman picked up her glass from the tray, then frowned before I saw her picking up the napkin.

Yes.

The woman opened the napkin, read what was inside, and her hand flew to her mouth. Her gaze looked around, trying to find the owner of the napkin. When her gaze falls on me, I waved. Recognition flickered in her eyes. She excused herself from her group and started for me.

Yes. Yes, yes. I knew I could find someone to help. I knew there would be someone decent and kind. I eagerly waited for her to reach me as I took a step toward her, and that was when I felt it—felt him. Rogue. I didn't turn around, but I could tell he was close behind me. I stiffened, my body shutting down. His presence was heavy and thick. The woman was still walking towards me.

No! No!

I tried to pretend I didn't know he was behind me so I could reach the woman and get her to walk away. No, that wouldn't work. The only thing that would work was escaping the two of them. My captor and my knight in shining armor. Once again, freedom was getting out of my reach.

However, before I could walk off, Rogue stepped up and wrapped his hand around my forearm, leaving no more than three inches between our shoulders. My eyes widened and nerve-wracked through me.

"Have I told you that you look gorgeous," he said, his voice husky. "The way the dress fits you and the collar on your neck..." He trailed off, his hot breath skimming on my neck. "If my head weren't divided, I'd have a different kind of bad intentions for you, but as you can see, my head overrules my desires."

I sucked in a breath, his words doing things to my insides, made my stomach tightened deep and low.

"Maybe when everything has blown up, and you get exposed for what you did to Hanna, I could speak to Taylor and have you to myself. That would be punishment enough. A pleasure for me, but definitely punishment for you. Or maybe not." He chuckled lowly. "You'd like it, won't you, Beth?" His lips brushed against my ear softly.

I spun to face him.

"Oh!" An exclaimed voice came from behind me, and Rogue grabbed my wrist, making me stand beside him as we faced the woman who had my napkin. My stomach sank. Wind slammed out of my lungs.

"Rogue." She seemed surprised to see him standing beside me as she darted her eyes between us.

"Hello, Giselle," he greeted smoothly, his mouth lifting into a slow grin. "Enjoying the night, I hope?"

My legs wobbled. Dread entered me. Made me dizzy. My eyes screamed at her to walk away. Please, let this be a dream. Let me wake up and find myself back in the car. Let this be a dream. Wake up. Wake up.

"Are you two together?" At his nod, she laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought she was someone I was looking for. I found a message, and I saw her waving at me, so I thought it must be her—goodness, you must have told her about me, isn't that right? Good things, I hope." She gifted us with a smile.

I felt Rogue's body stiffening.

"Indeed, I did."

I didn't want to terrorize myself by looking at his face. It was already enough that I could feel it in my skin, could feel the anger simmering on the surface. I didn't want to look. I already knew what I would find. Dammit. I struck again, and I failed.

"Do you mind..." he started, pleasantly and bitterly. "showing me the message?" There was malice in his voice that only I could hear, and it was like a bucket of ice water thrown onto my face, and suddenly everything felt like a kiss from death.

"Of course, of course." Giselle handed the napkin to him eagerly. I wanted to hit her. She had no idea what she had just done.

Rogue let go of me, and I had the open to run away, but I didn't. I remembered him saying I couldn't run away and that I would be returned to him. I didn't want to add another problem on top of another problem.

I winced when he opened the napkin. I still wouldn't look at him, but I looked frantically for the exit.

"Ah." There was no hint of emotions in his voice. I stared at Giselle, who looked eager to hear what he had to say. "I see you are a victim of a hoax. You haven't heard, but scammers have breached a few high-end parties, and a few guests had been robbed."

"Goodness!" she exclaimed, touching her heart.

Ha. Of course, he would have an explanation for it.

"Were you to find this person, they would have successfully robbed you. This is what they do, they lure people and single them out. I'm glad fate had decided to interfere and got me to save you in time. You have to be careful, Giselle. There are a lot of bad people who would want to hurt you." He sounded so sincere I almost believed it.

"Maybe I should report this. Security needs to find them quickly before someone falls prey like I almost did."

Rogue managed to narrow his eyes, and all the while kept the pleasant smile on his face. "I'd highly advise against it. Trust me, I will handle this without alarming anyone. There's a chance they might run if they heard we're looking for them. You just enjoy the party." He gripped me, and I ignored the pain in my arm.

Giselle looked hesitant and frightful. "But—"

"Enjoy the party," bitterly, the words left his mouth. This time, the statement was slow, each word emphasized and felt more like an order than a suggestion. His gaze was hard as steel and hot as a coal. Giselle's eyes widened a little before she plastered what I was convinced was a fake smile and nodded at us before she turned and walked away.

Oh, shit.

Rogue twisted me to face him. His face clenched with anger, threatening to crush the air from my lungs.

"Rogue," I started to say but clamped my mouth shut when his eyes narrowed to piercing slits.

"Don't," he said through his teeth, his eyes menacing. "Don't say another fucking word."

I swallowed hard. Rogue took hold of my wrist tightly, making me flinch from the slight pain I got from it. When we turned, we paused when we came face to face with the woman I saw at the bar.

"Darling," she chirped, going in to kiss Rogue on the cheeks. I blinked in shock. When she pulled away, she grabbed his hand and separated the two of us. "Jeremiah is looking for you. I think he wants to talk about your speech. Don't worry, Rogue, I'll keep her company." Without waiting for him to respond, she spun around and yanked me with her, away from his manic anger that scorched his eyes.

A sigh of relief falls from my lips. She dragged me to where I left her and released me. I looked at the woman who saved me from Rogue and wondered, "Who are you?"

She slid a glance at me. "Someone who could have helped you. If you had told me you planned on pissing Rogue off, I would have advised against it. But you're lucky I saved you from him," she said with a chuckle. "Just hope that he will be in a less angry mood by the time it's over."

"You still haven't told me who you are."

She grinned. "Veronica." And turned to the bartender to order a drink.

"I'm Beth," I introduced, keeping a watchful eye on her. "You're Rogue's friend?" Or something else? Lover? Girlfriend? Which was it?

"Childhood friend." She was amused at whatever she read on my face. "Don't look so sour, darling. I'm married." She lifted her hand, and she wasn't kidding. Her wedding band was displayed for me to see.

I flushed in embarrassment. "I wasn't—"

She laughed. "You could've fooled me." Then picked up the glass that was placed in front of her and tipped it to her mouth, chugging down the whole drink. When she swallowed it down, she jerked her chin. "So, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into with Rogue?"

"I didn't. He's the one—"

Veronica interrupted with a snort, "You can tell me."

I looked around briefly, rolling my eyes. "Yeah, just like how I can tell everyone in here." Not sure I could be stupid twice in one night. This could be Rogue's test again. Throw someone and see if I would fall. But Veronica didn't peg me as someone who would do that. Whatever. I didn't know her. I shouldn't make assumptions.

"Trust me, you can tell me. If you found yourself entangled with him, you'd need someone on your side. Someone who knows him well."

My brows shot up. What was their relationship besides being childhood friends? So many unsaid questions.

Veronica sighed at my silence, not seeming to like it. "One time, I got drunk and had a threesome. No one knows, not even my husband. You're the first person. Now that I've told you my secret, you can trust me."

Holy shit. That was unexpected. I didn't expect Veronica to drop that on me. Someone whom she just met. It was hard to believe if that was true. It could be another desperate move to get me to open up and report back to Rogue.

"How can I be sure it's a real secret?" She looked down at her phone and tapped in her password. Watching her scroll on her phone, it took less than a minute before she turned it for me to see. I gasped out loud, and my eyes shot back at her. "You have pictures from the night?!"

She shrugged, keeping the phone down as she swirled her second drink. "Not by choice. I'm being blackmailed and milked out of my money, but I have someone on the case to help me catch the person."

"That sucks."

A conflict of emotions skittered in her eyes. "It does," she agreed.

I turned away from her, looking at the drinks on the shelf behind the bartender, finding them more interesting. "Rogue kidnapped me." I had no idea why I was whispering since no one besides her could hear me. Even the bartender was attending to another guest. When I didn't hear an exclaimed remark or a gasp, anything to tell me that she heard what I said, I glanced at her. "You're not shocked. Why are you not shocked?" I frowned at her amused face. Definitely not what I was expecting.

"It took me a few years to realize its a waste of time to get shocked at everything Rogue does. Why did he kidnap you? Did you offend him?"

"He thinks I had something to do with the disappearance of my friend. She was supposed to meet me, but she disappeared not far from my building. Her phone and wallet were found on the ground, and Rogue kidnapped me because he thinks I would tell him where she is." I rolled my eyes. "I had nothing to do with it." I didn't know why I needed her to believe me. Maybe it was because I spent days trying to make someone else believed I had nothing to do with it.

"Ah.." Veronica bopped her head. "That definitely sounds like something he would do."

I squirmed. "So, you're the only one who knows what a twisted man he is?" She arched a brow, and I explained, "He left me dangling from the fucking ceiling for ten minutes, and I saw him clutching shards. There was so much blood. And the things he told me...." I shuddered just thinking about it.

"Rogue has demons. You haven't seen everything, trust me. In order to function with the rest of us, he has to pretend. Look around you. Everyone loves him, and he loves them back, but I can tell you it's all pretense. Rogue exercises control and dominance, it's the only thing keeping him sane. If he has no control..." She snapped her manicured fingers. "he has no moral compass."

Her words cut into my nerves. "You're just trying to scare me, aren't you?" I swallowed back the fear and ignored the dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

"In tenth grade, Kane Cosgrove refused to lend Rogue an extra pen when his broke, so Rogue broke his leg during football practice. Senior year, Amanda Stein started a rumor that he was on meds, and Rogue set her room on fire."

I gasped, shaking my head in denial. That couldn't have possibly happened because if it did, then it would mean I was in the hands of someone who was more dangerous than I thought.

Veronica didn't look at me when she continued, "Freshman year in college, the sophomores played pranks on the first-year students and threw their clothes in the lake. Not two days later, the same sophomore boys nearly drowned in a pool. They never said what happened. I had no doubt that it was Rogue." She glanced at me. "I'm just telling you all of this, so you'd know to be careful with him and tread lightly."

My heart began hammering against my chest, and my stomach twisted up in a tight ball of tension and fear. "And no one pressed charges?" I questioned. What kind of man was Rogue? What childhood did he have? What pushed him to be this way? What, what, what? A shiver ran through me.

"Kane Cosgrove dad did, but Rogue's dad had connections, so the case was dropped before it got anywhere. After that, Rogue's dad shipped him off to military school. Of course, no one knew that except me. When he got back to finish senior year, I think he became worse."

"How did you stay friends with him?" I thought of Rogue as a less dangerous man, but now I knew there was something far darker below the surface. Veronica was clearly saying he was too much for anyone to fight and win. And here I thought I could win and get him to let me go.

"I try to keep up with him, and it's because I've known him for so long," she said with a tight smile. "Being with Rogue, Beth, every moment isn't yours but his. Your thoughts, your hopes, your dreams...everything is all his."

My heart dropped. The music stopped, and there was a round of applause behind me. I turned to find Rogue taking the stage, unable to help to admire his grace and attractiveness, but was still able to hold on to my fear. Every easy stride he took commanded attention and respect.

I turned away from the stage and him, trying to keep myself calm. I heard every word of his, drilling into my ears. Rogue seemed to be skilled in communication because when I turned back for the second time, the whole room was listening, captivated by him. He engaged with them and occasionally threw in a couple of jokes. I could hardly believe how this man could work a room like this after knowing what I knew about him.

"He's a charmer, isn't he?" Veronica muttered beside me. "He has to make everything look right on the surface, so nothing gets questioned. He fools them with his charming words and brilliant smile, makes them see the good side of him, gets them to trust him, and like the fools they are, they believe in him. America's sweetheart." She laughed at her own joke.

I wasn't sure when his speech ended, but I only heard the applause. Rogue did another round of conversation before he found his way back to me. By then, I was tired and nervous. Scared. He appeared beside me and grabbed my arm.

"Veronica." He gave her a slight nod of acknowledgment. "I'm stealing her away for a dance."

My eyes widened. He wanted to dance? After what I did? My mouth was still open when he dragged me to the dance floor. He twirled me around and smashed me into his chest roughly, his arm snaking around my waist. I sucked in a breath and held onto him. He didn't speak. I didn't speak. He just kept swaying us, twirling me when he felt like it and then crushing me against him. I wasn't even sure if he was following the music anymore.

I swallowed. Not for a second had he taken his eyes off me. It started to freak me out. Rogue was eerily silent as he watched me from lowered lids; his face looked like it was carved out of stone. It was much worse that he wasn't saying anything. When the music ended, I was grateful. He dragged me away from the dance floor, tagging me along to talk to a group of men. He said his goodbyes and dragged me toward the exit, not even allowing me to say goodbye to Veronica, but I saw her waved at me. She knew and understood.