Page 186 of The Contract

The driver greets her, notices Adrian, and helps her into the car before pulling away.

That smug fucking bastard watches as the car drives right past him.

Another video is opened. Wolfe Industries lobby.

Elena nearly runs inside. The seventieth-floor reception.

The guard calls her over, and the shattered look of defeat on her beautiful face when she is handed the phone?—

“She called in a Code Red-One,” Lucian adds, his voice quieter now. “Gave your penthouse address. That’s a companion’s last resort. It means they’re in danger and need an immediate extract.”

Everything clicks into place.

And I want to throw myself off this building.

She never betrayed me.

She was trying to protect me.

“What was in the envelope she gave to Adrian?”

Lucian snorts an angry laugh through his nose. “That asshole sent her pictures of her rape from the strip club. He was going to blackmail her when she refused to help him.”

My throat closes, and black dots form on the edges of my vision.

My own words, screamed at her earlier, haunt me.

I saw the pictures, Elena.

“I’m going to be sick.”

I can’t sit here anymore.

The stool scrapes across the floor as I stand up—too fast.

The air in the penthouse feels thick. Suffocating.

I press my fingers against my temples, trying to fight off the nausea rolling through me.

But it’s there—deep and gnawing.

In my mind, I replay every second with her this afternoon.

What I said to her.

Each word slicing into her.

The look in her eyes.

Fuck.

That might be the worst part.

I was too angry to see it then, but replaying it now, I see the fresh cut on her lip.

Her red cheek.

The way she grimaced when I grabbed her.

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