Page 34 of Wretched Choices

“You did what?” My anger gets the better of me, realizing she is the one the Commission is looking for.

She stands and starts pacing again. “I wanted to do the same to you, but you were so careful that I couldn’t find a thing about you.”

“You what?” I stand, fisting my hands beside me. Is this why she was snooping in my office? Was I her next target? What a fool I am to think she is innocent. I should hand her over to the Commission. But something is stopping me Maybe it’s the scared look in her eyes, or maybe I just want to use her.

“I can’t do this. I need to run.” Her hands grip her hair. She has gone from zero to a hundred in seconds.

I have never seen this woman so afraid. Not when I caught her in my office, not when I sneaked into her apartment to scare her. Both times she held her own fearlessly, ready to fight.

I was fascinated by her, by her strength, but she is afraid of her father, and there must be a reason.

I grab her arms, pulling her hands from her hair, trying to calm her. “Stop it!” I raise my voice a notch higher, gaining her focus. “Why do you want to run?”

Unsuccessfully, she tries to pull her hands from me. “He’ll kill me. He told me if I ever leave, he will kill me.” I search her eyes for answers, trying to figure out what she’s talking about. “Not even you can keep me away from him. He will kill everyone in his way. He did it before. I should have known. I should have never agreed to this.”

“What are you hiding?”

“Let me go. It’s none of your business. Let go!” She struggles against me, but I hold firm.

“Why would he kill you?” I press.

Her brown eyes were wet with tears, filled with horror, look at mine, slicing my dark soul apart as she speaks. “Because he said that after he killed my mother. After he took me from the car she was driving, when she tried to escape him. I heard the gunshot that killed her when they dragged me back to the house.” By the time she’s finished, her skin is red and her cheeks moist, her body shaking.

I don’t think before I pull her into me, wrapping my arm around her, her face resting on my chest. “He can’t do anything to you. You are my wife now. I will not let that happen. When we go there, if we go there, we will be protected. I will never leave your side. And if he sets foot in my territory and tries to hurt you, he is a dead man. I gave you my word, and I meant it. From the day you said yes, you were under my protection.” I wait for her to say something, but she doesn’t. “Tell me you understand, Bella.”

“I understand.”

I expect her to pull from me, but she doesn’t and neither do I. She feels so good in my arms. Perfect. Like she was made just for me, molded for my arms. The moment doesn’t last when my phone interrupts whatever is happening. She pulls away, straightening her hair and avoiding my gaze. I stay still, not caring about the ringing, just trying to read her face.

“I’m tired. I should go to bed.” Without a glance in my direction, she marches to her room.

My phone rings one more time, Dante’s name on the screen, and I curse under my breath.

“Dante.”

“We have a problem.”

I place my hand on the hidden screen and take the elevator down to the level under my underground garage. The section is so well hidden that it’s not even in the hotel’s blueprint. It is amazing what money and power can do.

I open the soundproof room and brightness greets my eyes; I find Dante waiting for me.

“He is inside.”

I look toward the room where the mysterious guy is held. “Where was he?”

“We caught him on cameras trying to put a bomb under your car.”

I raise my brows. “How did he know which one is mine?”

“Because he knows you.” He points with his head to the door.

My eyes widen. “You.”

I gave the bastard a second chance.

A chance to live. I shake my head. It was all a lie. I also gave him a job, but he was an enemy from the beginning.

“I guess my distress won’t work this time,” the man says.

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