Page 29 of His Prize

She reached for my hand, but I slipped away from her grasp. Because I knew damn good and well that if she kissed me again, I wouldn't be able to contain myself. And I had to, for her sake.

The thought of hurting her in the heat of passion made me sick to my stomach.

“Israel, please.”

I made my way down the hallway. “Don’t beg, Bonnie. It’s unbecoming of you.”

“Like you’d know!”

I heard her heels clicking behind me as I made my way into the kitchen.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you,” she demanded.

I turned around. “Yes?”

Her eyes filled with anger righteousness. “You’re leaving me for her, aren’t you?”

I furrowed my brow. “What?”

“That diamond heiress. You’re leaving me for her, but you don’t have the balls to tell me?”

“Bonnie, I don’t have the energy to have this pointless fight with you.”

“So, you’re not leaving me?”

I snickered. “If you want to get technical, there’s nothing to leave. We aren’t married. We aren’t in a relationship—”

She gripped my shirt. “The hell we aren’t. We live together, Israel. We fuck together. We’ve gone through hell and back together, and all I’ve wanted this entire time is for you to—”

I heard it before I felt it. The massivepop!before the thunderous boom. I felt the entirity of my penthouse shake as the building swayed, and I heard Bonnie shriek in horror.

“Israel!”

“Dammit,” I growled.

I reached out for her, wrapping my arms around her waist. I pulled her close before she fell, then another explosion sounded. The boom was effervescent. It rattled my ribcage and cracked windows as the entire building began to bob and weave.

Then, I smelled smoke.

“We have to get out of here. Now,” I said.

With Bonnie clinging to me, I set out down the hallway. Smoke billowed down the stairs, and the cracks in all of my windows reminded me of the hellscape we were trying to weather together. I felt her trip behind me, her ankles rolling in those impossible heels of hers. So, I scooped her into my arms and tried to summon the elevator.

But nothing happened.

“Israel,” Bonnie said breathlessly.

“We have to take the stairs. Come on,” I murmured.

I carried her through the back of the penthouse as sirens sounded in the distance. Another explosion went off; only this time, I heard people down below, screaming and crying out for help. I jammed my arm into the door and started down the steps. I watched Bonnie kick off her heels before she slithered down from my grasp, then slid her hand into mine.

“We have to hurry. Come on,” she said.

And when she took the lead in front of me, I couldn’t help but smile.

What a woman.

I heard footsteps barreling up the stairs as we made our way down, and in the middle, we met my bodyguards. One of them scooped Bonnie into his grip, and I raced down the stairs behind them, with the smell of smoke growing behind me. We made it out through the back and around to the front of the building, where people were crying and pointing and yelling. And when I looked up the facade of my building, I saw what they did.

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