Page 141 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

The poundingon the door jolted me awake.

I shot upright, my heart slamming against my ribs, panic flooding my veins before I even knew where I was. My breath came too fast, too sharp, my fingers fisting in the scratchy sheets as I struggled to orient myself.

Not home. Not safe. Alone.

Another bang.

I flinched. My pulse roared in my ears, my skin cold and clammy despite the suffocating heat of the room. My mind scrambled through possibilities, each one worse than the last.

Owain?

No, he couldn’t know where I was. He wouldn’t have found me this fast. But what if he had? What if blocking his number hadn’t been enough?

What if running hadn’t been enough?

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to breathe. I needed to move. I needed to run.

But then…

“Sadie!”

The voice hit me like a freight train.

I knew that voice.

Another thud against the door—not violent, not threatening. Desperate.

“Sadie, open the door.”

Kai.

My body sagged with the realization, my lungs squeezing so tight I could barely breathe.

They’d found me.

Oh god.

I pressed a hand to my mouth, trying to swallow the sob clawing up my throat. I had told them not to come after me. I had begged them to let me go. And still…

Still, they’d come.

“Sadie, please.”

Samuel’s voice this time, rough and low, a pain that struck me hard.

A tremor ran through me. My legs felt weak as I swung them over the side of the bed, my bare feet hitting the thin carpet.

I barely remembered getting here, barely remembered collapsing into this stiff, unfamiliar bed, but now all of it rushed back at once… the storm of emotions, the choking fear, the weight of my past pressing down until I couldn’t breathe.

And then, I had run.

I thought I had to. I thought I didn’t have a choice.

But they had followed.

My chest ached so fiercely I pressed my palm against it, like I could physically hold myself together.

I stepped forward.

---