The Witness

3- Figuring things out

I chose to stay quiet as the knife threatened to pierce into my side, "I am sorry Ma'am but I was just helping her to her room. She passed out in the bar, do you know her?" I heard the man say softly in the most courteous tone.

"Of course I know her, she's my stepdaughter! You can bring her in here... what happened Luna, you up and disappear from the party and now this man is saying you were found drunk in the bar?" she sounded worried as she held the door open, only I knew this man wasn't about to just take me in there.

"I'm sorry miss, but I was told to take her to her room. I am going to be doing that." he says as he turns to walk us away.

"It sure looks differently you know..." I hear her say sarcastically. "How do I know that you just didn't go and sleep with this man last night?" she spoke angrily.

"Darla... I didn't sleep with this man!" I raise my voice, I was so hurt that she would go there. She knew very well what kind of a girl I was, and just because she married my father last night did not mean that she was going to sit here and dictate my life to me. I felt the man pull me back more, as I tried to once again leap out of his hands in a last attempt to get away.

"Well, what can one think when you go missing from your own father's reception? I will just plan on coming and checking on you in a little bit after you've had a chance to sleep your liquor off. Maybe I can find Bryan and set up a dinner or something for you two to meet, you need to meet this man Luna because in just two short months the two of you will be married." she smiled back at me. I stopped worrying about the knife and what he was doing and glared back at my stepmother in complete shock. There was no way that she meant what she just said, Dad would never force me to marry a man I didn't know like this, this was all her doing.

"What... you've got to be joking! Tell me you are joking!" I demanded from her, I could care less about this man and the knife. She couldn't be serious, could she?

"I am not joking Luna, watch your tone with me. Your father and I signed an agreement promising your hand in marriage to Bryan, and you are going to do it." She smirked back at me.

"I won't just marry a man because you sign an agreement!" I scream out at her, she narrowed her eyes back at me... it was almost as if she was challenging me to do something about it.

"You will marry him Luna, now go and get some rest and lose this man. I will see you later, I sure hope that you didn't sleep with him... cause I don't want to lose that money. I am going to see if I can find Bryan, I'll be by your room in a few hours." she says before shutting her door leaving me alone with the man, I wanted to scream out at her, to tell her what was really going on but kept my mouth shut because of the sharp point of the knife being held tightly against my skin. I kept quiet and let him pull me along with him the rest of the way down to his room. He unlocks the door with his key card and nudges me inside closing the door behind him.

"That's a good girl, Luna!" he whispers into my ear, my only hope of escaping this man just closed her door on him making it so that he could keep me with him. There was no way that I was going to just get away from this man now.

I look up into his face, I could feel the tears welling in my eyes and didn't stop them from dropping down my face as I blinked. "Please... just let me go. I won't say anything to her about you." I plead with the man.

"I don't think so," he growls out as he pulls me to a chair that was near the window, he shoves me down hard into the chair. He reaches out and grabs the rope from the bed, he slips it around my wrist tieing both hands behind me around the back of the chair. He just wasn't going to be letting me go. "Since I can't trust you not to run, you will just have to be tied up from now on."

"No, please... I will behave, I swear!" I beg.

"STOP IT... I do not trust you. You will remain tied up for now and that's the end of it. Understand?" he growls out as he finishes up with tieing the last knot on the rope. He looked both pissed off and sad that I didn't behave for him. I didn't understand everything that was going on, and I continued to wonder why this man insisted on keeping me like this?

He stands up without saying anything more and walks back out of the room, leaving me all alone to my own thoughts.

*****

Cole's POV

I needed to calm down, almost losing her really pissed me off. I can not afford for her to get away right now, I realize now that this girl was going to be a lot more of a problem then I thought she was going to be. This girl was not going to just play games, she meant business and of she got out... got away from me then I would be in some serious trouble and I really can not afford that to happen, not now anyway.

Walking into the hotel bar, I caught sight of him sitting there in the corner and I nod my head at him as I made my way to the counter. I needed a stiff drink and I didn't care that it was only 10 o'clock in the morning I was going to have a drink. I can't bring myself to walk up to him, after all this was all his fault. He was the one who let her slip into the room and witness what she was never supposed to see in the first place. "Hey, boss how's things going with the girl?" I heard him ask as he steps up behind me and takes a seat next to me at the bar.

Of course, he'd ask that the prick had to be the stupidest person I have ever had to deal with. Why would he just start with that question of everything he could have asked me? "She's fine, she's in the room keeping quiet." I kept the answer short and to the point, I didn't need all of the people around me to know any of my business.

"Well that's good I guess, do the rest of us need to worry about her? What is your plan?" he asks and I glare over at him as the bartender walks up asking me what I wanted to drink, I smile at him trying to be friendly.

"I'll take a Manhatten please." I answer the bartender first.

"Coming right up." He says through a warm smile.

I watch silently as he steps away to make me my requested drink, I glance up into Brent's face with a sneer. He was pissing me off even more than I was already, no one needed to know my business. "Maybe we should call a meeting, we can all meet up in my room and there we can discuss a plan on what to do with her next. Does that sound good to you?" I snap at him.

"Um, yeah actually I think that might be a good plan. I will let the others know." he says as he stands up.

"Okay, let us meet in say an hour?" I growl out and watch as he nods his head before he turns and walks away probably to let the others know. The bartender brings me my drink and I enjoy it as I wrack my brain trying to figure out what I am going to do with her now.

After a while, I glance down at the watch and notice that it was time to leave and head back to my room for the meeting with all the guys to discuss what I was going to do with this girl. I still had no idea, the only thing that kept popping up in my head was to just make her stay with me. That meant taking her home, but I couldn't just bring a girl home like that so I came up with a plan. One I was pretty sure was going to piss her off, but you know what. I didn't care, she needed to realize that none of this was my fault... it was all hers. She's the one that walked in on me and my men. She's the one that witnessed it all, and because of that, she is the one that caused herself to be stuck with me.

Walking down the hall, I notice that the door to my room was ajar and that made me worry that maybe the girl got away. I tiptoe up to it, only to hear soft voices coming from inside. I knew that voice and I walked into the room in time to hear him ask the most ridiculous thing. "What is your name?" I saw the smile on his face, that alone pissed me off... who did he think he was, trying to weasel his way in on this?

"Do not worry about her name Brent, she is my problem, not yours!" I growl out at him, I narrow my eyes at him crossing my arms across my chest as I stumble a bit into the room. Maybe I drank a little too much at the bar. "Where are the other's, I thought I told you to get everybody here for a meeting?" I snap at him.

I heard him chuckle a bit, "The others aren't coming Cole... they all feel like you should deal with the problem on your own as you are the boss after all." he sends me a smile which does nothing other than piss me off.

"Excuse me... Did you forget something? I wouldn't even have this little problem if you were doing your job instead of making out with a woman in the next room Brent. You need to help me figure this out!" I raise my voice at him, gesturing towards the girl. I saw her flinch at my words and that made me feel bad.

"Right, you would say that... but unlike you boss, I can't afford to be stuck with this kind of problem. Deal with it yourself, I just wanted to see the girl for myself." he inches more toward her and that didn't sit well with me, I rushed over blocking his path to her...

"Get out, if you are not going to help me with the issue then you can just go..." I yell getting in his face pushing him back, It amused me to watch him stumble back a bit.

"Dude... calm down." he snapped back.

"No Brent I won't just calm down, you need to get the f**k out of here!" I yell out at him, I was so mad that I grab him by the collar picking him up and drag him back towards the door where I toss his ass out of my room and into the hall. I slam the door in his face and lock the deadbolt, there was absolutely no way I was allowing him to get back in here. I turn around to face the girl who was causing so much issue in my life right now, I didn't know what to do or what to say to her...