Page 95 of Submission

A sudden pain from the bullet wound in my belly quickly returns my thoughts back to the last twenty-four hours of hell I’ve just been through.

“How did you find us?” I ask him, closing my eyes so he hopefully won’t see the pain I’m in. It will only make him feel guiltier than he already does.

“I saw the earrings you dropped,” Hunter replies after a long pause.

When I open my eyes, he’s watching me closely. “I heard Lena’s version of events, but I want to know what happened from you as well.”

“After a conversation with a guest about one of my pieces, I was feeling hungry, so Lena and I headed to the buffet. Somebody pointed a gun at my back and told me to walk. I tried to give Lena a reason to go and look for you but she saw the gun, then she looked the guy right in his face, so he decided he wanted her as well.”

“Was it Jonathan?”

“I don’t think so, no. I really don’t understand how nobody noticed us, but as we walked away from the buffet, I took the steak knife I was holding and just stuck it inside my dress, between my cleavage.”

“That was dangerous, Megan.”

He gently strokes my arm with the back of his knuckles.

“I’m not a stranger to knives,” I say, reminding him of what happened with Samuel and my boyfriend.

“That was a different circumstance. Continue the story.”

“I was scanning the room for you or anyone who may have been on the security detail but I didn’t see anyone, so as we continued to walk, I took the opportunity to slip off both my earrings. I knew you’d figure out that something was wrong. I just wanted to leave you clues. And the rest, well, you know what happened.”

“Lena said you were an absolute rock for her. That you helped her keep her shit together.”

“I’ve been in worse situations in my own house. I was just trying to give her coping strategies that I used myself. Keep calm. Don’t show any emotion. And if necessary, figure out a way to buy time.”

That’s how I survived all those years.

“And finally, I figured it out,” Hunter murmurs.

“Better late than never, right?“

“Do you remember exactly what Jonathan said down in that basement to you or anyone else? Did he say anything odd, something that stuck out to you?”

“Odd?” I echo, trying to wrack my brain. “Well, he mentioned that someone was late. He kept checking his watch and calling somebody. And then he looked at one of the men and told him that they still had to follow instructions.”

“What was odd about that to you?”

“I don’t know, I thought he was the mastermind behind everything that’s happened to you lately, but it seemed like he was answering to someone else. But to be honest, you can’t take anything that I’m saying as the gospel because I was so close to peeing on myself I couldn’t think straight.”

“I can’t believe he shot a pregnant woman.”

“He didn’t know I was pregnant.”

“That’s not the point, Megan.”

“I know we agreed to baby steps, but what exactly happened to him?”

“I told you.”

“I need more details.”

“My team tried to question him,” Hunter says grimly. “But he had another gun and shot himself right in the head.”

“So, after all the effort he went through to make your life a living hell, he decides to kill himself?” I feel disappointed. “That’s hell of anticlimactic.”

“You don’t have to worry about any of this anymore.” Hunter smiles. “All I want you to think about is our baby.”

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