Page 87 of Twice as Forbidden

The woman smiles, baring her teeth. “Good work, honey.”

“Now, what do I do with you? We can’t have any loose ends.”

“You can’t kill me,” I rush on in a panic. “Jackson knows about the blackmail. They both do. If I go missing, they’ll go to the police. You—you won’t get away with this.”

His eyes burn with fury. “You told Jackson?” His jaw tightens to the brink of snapping.

“What does that mean for us?” the woman rushes out, her voice filled with panic.

Vince pulls his gaze to her. “We need to move faster. If Jackson knows, we need to get that deal signed—now.” He cracks his neck, his cold gaze shifting back to me. “You weren’t supposed to tell him our secret,Georgie.” His hand balls into a fist, and I can’t move fast enough to dodge the impact. White dots blur my vision as pain blasts across my cheek. When my vision returns, he’s mere inches from my face. “Fuck… you,” I whisper, the words barely escaping my swollen lips. I cough, and blood spurts out of my mouth. Vince recoils, his face twisting in disgust.

“You fucking bitch.” He glances down at his shirt, and that’s all the opening I need. I twist and yank the door handle. In one swift motion, I launch myself out of the car. My body slams into the pavement with a brutal thud, pain exploding up my side. I scramble to my feet, my head spinning, and stumble forward. My vision is still blurry, and the blaring horns only add to my confusion.

“Georgia!”

I hear Vince yell my name, and I bolt across the street. A horn blares and I halt inches from getting hit. I make the mistake and look over my shoulder when Vince reaches out, grabs my shirt, and hauls me toward him. “Wrong move.”

I thrash in his grip, desperate to break free. “Let me go!” I scream, clawing at his arms. “Let me fucking go!” With a spike of adrenaline, I throw my head back, slamming it into his chin.

“Fuck!” He loosens his grip, stumbling backward, and a car slams into him with a sickening crash. The impact rings in my ears, and his body is flung violently across the intersection, landing in a heap. I stand there in shock, trying to process what just happened. The chaos around me intensifies. So much shouting and tires screeching. I make out silhouettes. People. The woman from the car screams as she maneuvers through the traffic to get to Vince and drops to her knees beside him.

The world spins. Lights blind me. I cup my ears at the sudden stabbing inside my head. I’m going to be sick.

“Miss!”

“Miss!”

I spin around, trying to make sense of the voices, but everything is blurry.

“Miss, watch out!”

Like a freight train tearing through my body, something slams into me, and everything goes black.

Chapter twenty-nine

Jackson

“Getthefuckoutof my way!” I slam my fist on my horn.

“Getting into an accident isn’t going to get you to her any faster.”

I ignore Craig’s commentand weave between two cars, almost hitting a pedestrian. “Where is she?”

“About three miles ahead of you. She’s stopped. They’ve been at the light on Jefferson for some time now.”

“Why?”

“Not sure. Traffic? Construction? Accident?”

“Can you get a feed from the red-light camera?”

Craig sighs. “That’s gonna cost ya. Hacking into them is frowned upon, and I’ve exceeded my limit today—”

“I’ll fucking pay whatever you want.”

“It’s your money. Hold tight…” Each second feels like another brick pressing down on my chest. While I wait, I call Georgia on my car phone. It goes to voicemail. “Shit.”

“What?” My stomach drops. “Fucking what!”

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