Chapter Forty-two

Cecilia

My new bodyguard escorted me from the upstairs suite down the grand staircase to the sitting room on the main level. The holster of his gun was barely visible, but it was visible. Not only was I being held against my will but by gun-carrying men who had probably been told to shoot me if necessary.

No. I couldn’t be shot.

I had an heir to produce.

As we approached the bottom of the staircase, my attention went to the front doors. At least fourteen feet high, they were nothing more than an ostentatious illusion. They belonged on the front of some extravagant large home on acres of land, not on the entrance to an apartment seventy stories in the air. They should lead to freedom and fresh air, not a guarded hallway.

My escape wouldn’t come through those doors.

I heard their voices before I entered. My mother’s calming speech stilled my steps. However, it was the sound of my uncle’s laughter that nauseated me to the point where I considered turning around.