Page 124 of The Billionaire's Vow

I glowered at him. “You did things to me.”

He scoffed. “I did nothing to you—”

“You beat me, and you assaulted me—”

“What the hell are you talking about—”

“Damn it, you came into my room when I was only eight—”

“I did no such thing,” he cut me off, his voice rising. “Someone poisoned you and put these exaggerations in your head. I never touched you. I was an addict—”

“You were sober,” I sneered. “You needed to check…check me over—”

“I took anatomy in college. I was making sure you didn’t show signs of defects. You need to stop assassinating my character,” he hissed. His face turned bright red, and his expression turned lethal. The mask was gone. It was the monster ready to strike.

“Still lying for attention. Well you’ve just made a huge mistake,” he said and simpered, shaking his head. “All your lies will catch up with you. It’s going to be me taking you all down. You’ll see.”

“Go to hell,” I snarled.

“Adelina,” I heard Zane shout my name.

Judge Colby picked up his briefcase and power-walked in the opposite direction, waving his hands for a cab that stopped for him.

Coward. However,I couldn’t brush off what he said he’d do.He’s still a threat.

Zane rushed up to me. “I found her,” he said into a radio. “I tried calling and texting you since I didn’t have a GPS on your phone. Who was that you were talking to?”

“Eric Colby, my uh father,” I choked.

His eyes widened, and his jaw jerked. “Fuck. What the hell is he doing here? Did he hurt you?”

Sweat broke across my body, and a wave of nausea soured my stomach. I rushed to the corner and vomited. My skin prickled, and I dropped the shopping bag on the ground, rubbing my arms.

Zane quickly collected it. “Fuck. Let’s get you out of here.” He glared down the street. “I should’ve been here. And we…we have to leave.” He handed me a handkerchief from his inside pocket.

My eyes were blurry, and I hadn’t even realized I was crying. “What…what’s going on?”

He reached for me to guide me like he’d done many times, but I flinched.

He dropped his hand. “We have an urgent flight to take to Italy. The plane’s waiting for us at the airport.”

“Why so sudden?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I was told to bring you there now—”

“But I have nothing with me,” I said, staring at my tracksuit and saddle bag.

“Isla’s packing up everything with a team right now. You’ll have whatever you need when you get there. Okay? But we must hurry.” He lifted the radio and spoke into it again. “Is he close?”

A voice came through, and I recognized it as Rick’s. “He’s here now.”

A Mercedes pulled up with the older man I’d seen in London with Paul, Nadia, and Miles. He promptly opened the car door for us.

“Laurence is coming along with us on Paul Crane’s plane,” Zane explained.

I quickly climbed into the car, and he followed me. A horn blared behind us, and then Laurence sat behind the wheel and drove down the road.

“Fancy meeting you on a sidewalk in the Village?” Laurence called back, cheery. “I hear you’re a big fan of Rocco’s pasta; however, you haven’t had Chef Renault’s latest Cassoulet. We will feast on the plane.”

---