Page 115 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2
"You don't have to do this."
"It's already done." She smiled. "Your fate was set as soon as you slept with my husband. As soon as you decided that you were more important than the rules. As soon as you gave into temptation."
As she inched closer, I knew it was now or never. This was my one shot at escape. I had to grab her gun. But I didn't have to do anything.
Porter had stood up. He quietly stepped forward and grabbed Isabella's gun from behind.
"Get off me!" She yelled and pulled the trigger.
I closed my eyes as a shot rang out. But I didn't feel anything. My eyes flew open.
Isabella was squirming in Porter's arms. And I did the first thing I could think of. I grabbed a pan off the kitchen counter and whacked it hard against the back of her head. Isabella went limp in his arms.
"Jesus Christ." Porter shoved her off of him and she fell to the floor. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." The pan fell to the floor with a clang. "But Rob..."
"Call 911." Porter was already crouching down next to Rob's body.
I fumbled with my phone, spilling out all the information to the operator on the other side.
Porter lifted one of Rob's eyelids.
"Is he okay?"
Porter didn't respond.
Rob couldn't die. Not like this. I didn't know anyone as full of life as him. I didn't know anyone as kind and selfless as him.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Devotion - Chapter 31
Thursday
I stared down at the blood. But it wasn't the puddle of it that wrenched my heart. It was Rob's bloody handprints on the wooden floor. Where he had struggled to get up. Where he had been knocked back down. That's what the detective said. Rob had gotten hit on the head at the top of the stairs and fallen. He had tried to get up at the bottom but Isabella had hit him in the head again. I couldn't seem to stop staring at Rob's bloody handprints.
A flash made me blink my eyes. The crime scene investigators were taking photos of the blood.
"Penny." Porter lightly touched my shoulder. "Let me take you back to the hospital."
"This was my fault." I put my hand over my mouth.
"This was not your fault."
"It was my fault!" I shrugged away from his hand. "There were a million signs. There was no reason for Rob to ask me to come here. He would have just brought the evidence to the hospital. And the texts didn't sound like him. He didn't even use any funny jokes. And even the guy at the front desk asked if Ellen was single. I thought he was asking for his dad or something. I never thought..." I was choking on my tears. "It is my fault. What happened to Rob..."
"You're acting like he's dead. He's not. He's just unconscious. He may already be awake."
"I just...he's one of my best friends." I hadn't realized it before that second. But it was the truth. There was no one else I could ever confess my worries to as much as I could Rob. Sometimes it was even easier to talk to him than it was to talk to James, because he understood my fears about James being an addict. He understood me. And he always had my back. He was always there for me.
"And he's going to be okay." Porter touched my shoulder again. "He's going to wake up. Just like James did."
He didn't know that. "If you hadn't been wearing a bulletproof vest, you'd be dead. I never could have forgiven myself."
"You can't live your life in what-ifs. I'm not dead. I'm fine. And Rob's going to be fine too. None of this was your fault."
"I should have seen it."
