Page 97 of Meet Cute or Your Money Back

For a heartbeat, I think he’s going to say yes. I think I’ve reached him. But then his face hardens, the moment passing like a cloud across the sun.

“You couldn’t even protect your own wife,” he says, the words quiet but brutal. “What makes you think you can protect mine?”

It’s a knife to the gut, a twisting, aching pain that steals my breath. Because he’s right. I couldn’t save Jenna. I couldn’t keep her safe.

But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying with the ones I have left.

“Admiral, please?—”

But he’s already turning away, his back a wall of finality.

“I’m sorry, Thatcher. But you’re on your own. As long as I continue being helpful to Drakon, he’ll keep me and my family safe. And…maybe if I’m lucky, once he’s done with me, he’ll get rid of me, but spare my family.”

Admiral Brady is delusional. We’ve seen it a dozen times. Drakon will kill them. He’ll kill them all.

Unless I stop him.

The thought settles over me, cold and clear. I have to get out of here. I have to find a way. For Allie. For Duke. For everyone I love…even for Admiral Brady.

Failure isn’t an option. Not this time.

I yank at my bonds again, ignoring the white-hot flare of pain as the zip ties cut into my wrists. Blood runs in warm rivulets down my palms, but I barely feel it. All I feel is the pounding of my heart, the rush of adrenaline urging me to move, to fight, to do something.

But there’s nothing I can do. Not tied up like this. Not without help.

A flicker of movement catches my eye over Admiral Brady’s shoulder, a smudge of shadow against the grimy warehouse window. I blink, sure it’s a trick of the light, a projection of my desperate mind. But then it happens again. A shape, a silhouette. Someone’s out there.

Hope surges through me, bright and sharp.Griffin. Hunter. They must have tracked me down, must be coming to?—

My thoughts screech to a halt as the figure moves closer, features resolving into shocking, sickening clarity. Not Griffin. Not Hunter.

Allie.

No. No no no no no. This can’t be happening. She can’t be here.

But she is. I’d know those hazel eyes anywhere, wide and frightened as they stare through the glass. Her fingers press against the window, leaving smudges on the grime-streaked pane. She mouths my name, the shape of it like a prayer.

She starts moving along the window, looking for a way in.

Shit.

Fuck.

This can’t be happening. Why did she come here alone?

Panic claws at my throat, a wild, desperate thing. I shake my head frantically, the movement tugging at my wounds.Go, I mouth back.Run.

But she doesn’t run. Of course she doesn’t. This is Allie, brave, stubborn Allie who never picked a fight she couldn’t win. I see the determination settle over her features, the tilt of her chin that means she’s made up her mind.

I’ve been hit with a lot of blows today. Bone-crushing, rib-cracking hits that keep coming. But this one is the gut punch I’m not ready for. Because instead of listening to me…instead of running in the opposite direction, Allie simply looks me dead in the eye and mouths,I love you.

Chapter 28

Allie

The sight of Thatcher tied to that chair in the center of the room, his head bowed, blood dripping from a nasty gash above his eye, several bruises blooming across his jaw and cheek makes my heart stop. He looks so still; so broken.

I press my back against the rough brick wall, my breath coming in shallow, frantic gasps. Biscuit quivers in my arms, a warm, reassuring weight amidst the suffocating fear. I can hear the thud of Admiral Brady’s boots and the snarl of Drakon’s goon’s voices as they shout orders.

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