Page 218 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 5
He just gripped my arms harder.
“Miller!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “Donnelley! Help me!”
“Jesus, Brooklyn, it’s me,” Mason said and pulled his mask off. “What’s going on?”
I breathed a sigh of relief, which only made the blood fill my nose. I pointed behind me and then made the mistake of covering my mouth again, smearing more blood on my face.
Mason stared into the room. “What the fuck is that?”
“How long have you been up here?” Matt asked. “Have you seen anyone go into my room?”
“The only person I saw go in was Brooklyn like twenty minutes ago.”
“I was downstairs twenty minutes ago,” I said.
Mason shook his head. “But I saw you…”
“Isabella’s dressed like me. I mean, she’s dressed like Sandy.” God, she hadn’t just dressed like me to annoy me. Well, I was sure that was a fun bonus. But she’d done it so she could sneak into Matt’s room and murder her poor dog on his bed. Isabella had done a lot of terrible things to me. But this was fucking insane. And I didn’t need the evidence that a person dressed like Sandy had gone into Matt’s room twenty minutes ago. I knew it was her. “It’s Isabella’s dog,” I said. “It was Isabella. She wants to kill me.” Saying the words out loud made it even harder to breathe. This wasn’t a game. I’d tried to ignore Isabella eversince homecoming. But it wasn’t working. Not fighting back was going to get me killed.
“Shit,” Mason said.
Matt clenched his hands into fists. “I’m going to fucking kill Wizzy. Stay with Brooklyn.” He turned to go find her.
I wanted to call after Matt, but he was already running down the stairs.
“Shit,” Mason said again, his eyes still trained on the words on the wall.
I felt a little safer with Mason standing here with me. But I didn’t need a babysitter. I wanted to find Isabella too. I was going to fucking kill her first. I ran after Matt.
“Wait!” Mason called.
I reached the bottom of the stairs before I realized there was no air in my lungs. I pressed my hand against the wall.
“Are you okay?” Mason asked as he lightly touched my back.
“No.” Tears started to stream down my face.
“Here, sit down,” Mason said as he pulled me down to sit on the step.
I leaned forward. I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up or faint.
Mason abruptly stood up. “Isabella!” he yelled.
I looked up to see Isabella standing in the foyer. She smiled at me and then disappeared back into the spooky hallway. Mason took a few steps toward her and then stopped and looked back at me. I knew why he wasn’t running after her. Matt had asked him to stay with me.
“Go,” I said. “I’m fine.”
He cursed for the millionth time tonight and then took off running.
Matt and Mason could take care of finding Isabella. I needed to find Miller. I needed my dad. He was the only one who would know what to do with her once the Caldwells found her. I pushed myself up. My legs were shaky as I made my way toward the front door. My security was still forced to stay outside. And they’d be out there somewhere. I opened up the door.
James was standing on the front step. He immediately pulled something out of his mouth and threw it onto the ground, grinding it into the gray stone with the heel of his dress shoe. Smoke swirled around his face and he coughed. He waved his hand through the air, trying to disperse it. “Oh. It’s just you,” he said with a laugh. But then he lowered his eyebrows as he took in my appearance. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Isa…” I gasped for air. “Isabella.”
He grabbed my hand without waiting for a response, pulling me into his chest. “Just breathe,” he whispered into my ear.
My tears felt hot on my cheeks as the cool autumn air blew around us. For just a few minutes, James held me. Until I was able to catch my breath.
