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"No." Her voice cracked. "I heard him."

Soren looked toward the security monitor mounted beside the door and saw nothing. The grounds were clear. He glanced back at her. She wasn't looking at him. She was looking past him, still trapped somewhere in her own memories.

Without thinking, he stepped closer. "Lily." She didn't respond. "Lily." Still nothing. He lowered his voice. "Look at me." Slowly, painfully, her eyes found him. They were full of fear—not of him, but of something long gone.

"You're safe now,” he whispered.

She swallowed hard. "I broke your lamp."

Soren glanced at the ruined lamp before looking back at her. "I own twelve more."

"I'll pay for it,” she insisted.

"No, you won’t,” he said.

"It was my fault."

"It was an accident,” he assured.

"I shouldn't have—" She was spiraling—he could see it in her eyes.

"Lily." She fell silent. "You are not in trouble."

Her lips parted. The words seemed foreign to her. "I'm not?"

"No,” he breathed.

A single tear escaped before she quickly wiped it away. "I'm sorry."

Soren resisted the urge to sigh. She was always apologizing and seemed to expect some sort of punishment for something that was just an accident. He filed the observation away. Someone had taught her that mistakes deserved pain. As he looked at the frightened woman standing barefoot among broken glass, one thing became painfully clear to him. If Lily Brooks was ever going to feel safe again, someone was going to have to teach her something entirely different.

Chapter Three

Lily

Lily woke with a gasp. For one blissful second, she couldn't remember where she was. But then, everything came rushing back—the oversized bed, the unfamiliar bedroom with soft gray walls, the expensive furniture, the shattered lamp she’d knocked off the nightstand, and most of all Soren and the murder she witnessed. She groaned and buried her face in one of the enormous pillows.

"This has to be a nightmare,” she mumbled to herself. Unfortunately, it wasn't. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming the room. It should have been peaceful; instead, it felt like she was waking up inside a beautiful prison.

A quiet knock sounded on the door, and before she could answer, the door opened just enough for an older woman to peek inside. "Good morning, sweetheart." Maria smiled warmly. "I brought breakfast."

Lily sat up so quickly the comforter nearly tangled around her legs. "You didn't have to do that."

"Oh, but I did." Maria carried in a tray loaded with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, fresh fruit, and coffee. Lily's stomach growled loud enough to embarrass her, and Maria laughed softly.

"I'll take that as a thank you,” she teased.

"I really am sorry about the lamp,” she said.

"Oh, honey." Maria set the tray across Lily's lap. "If Soren cared about lamps, he'd own fewer of them."

Lily blinked up at her. "He wasn't angry?"

Maria looked genuinely confused. "Why would he be?"

"Because I broke something,” she said, as though that was answer enough.

"It was an accident,” Maria said.