Page 118 of Between Now & Heartbreak

“Handle him.” His voice is cold and authoritative.

I’m gripped by a blood curdling sense of doom as he resumes our walk to the door.

This is an unmitigated disaster. I want to turn back time and send Carter home.

Somewhere Andrew Wolfe can’t touch him.

There are grunts of pain and the unmistakable sounds of a fight.

As we approach the door, I’m nearly overcome with the sense of walking towards an irrevocable moment.

Visions of my grandmother’s house, of being held down by Tobias, of my father’s fury just hours ago, all of it coalesces into a shot of adrenaline that clears the fog of fear I’d been choking on.

I have something they all need.

I’mnothelpless. I’m not afraid of him. He can’t hurt me.

And I’m not leaving Carter here alone with them either.

I struggle in his hold and he looks down at me, incredulous, his grip slips but he tightens his hold on me.

“You haveruinedeverything,” he seethes.

Those words are like the fuse to my already explosive anger before I even realize what I’m doing I kick him hard in the leg. The hard point of my shoe sinks into the firm but yielding muscle in his calf and he drops my arm.

I ignore the shocked cries around me and eye my father. I push down the flare of regret I feel when I see the pain contorting his face. He’s doubled over clutching his leg. He’s not trying to conceal his anger any longer. His expression is murderous.

“Haven’t you done enough? Youowedme tonight,” he roars.

“You owe me my entirelife.Youruined everything. This isallyour fault.” I retort,

I don’t wait for his response, but turn back to rush to Carter. But when I get back to where he’d been, he’s gone from the room.

Duke has recovered and Georgia is holding a napkin over his nose. “Your lover man is going to jail.”

“How could you?” I want to break his nose again.

“What do you think happens when you hit the former governor’s son? I’ll ruin him.”

“You don’t have that kind of power.” I plant my feet.

“No, but I’ll have you, and that will be enough.”

He smiles, it’s a gory, bloody thing, but it reaches all the way to his eyes. Which are fixed on something over my shoulder with a feral light of anticipation.

He looks like a maniac.

I shrink back, instinctively, but not out of fear.

It’s revulsion I feel.

I’m finished with this.

I put my hand on my head and pull until the wig loosens and comes off entirely.

His jaw drops.

“What are you doing?”

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