Page 19 of Lose to Win: Lost Trilogy: Part 3
I am clenching my jaw hard, ready to snap. The only thing anchoring me right now is knowing that she is not doing this of her own volition. They got to her somehow, and she really believes this is the only way out.
I feel more than see Devereaux’s entire body tensing next to mine when a bullet breaks through the bedroom window upstairs and embeds itself in the pillow on my side of the bed.
“What are you doing?” Emily yells, and I don’t think she realizes that we can hear her down here without the phone.
“That was a warning shot, Emily,” Steve laughs. “He missed on purpose because he is that good.”
I watch in horror when he directs her to where she hid an inhaler inside my closet. He tells her to use, and she does it with no hesitation.
By the time they hang up, I am ready to set this entire house on fire. There’s more to this, so much more, and we need to get to the bottom of it.
“I can’t believe she’s not trusting us with this,” I unclench my teeth enough to speak.
“She’s always had her reasons for everything she did,” Devereaux speaks a lot more calmly than I feel. “Always from one extreme to the other.”
“Well, she won’t like this extreme,” I declare. “That’s for fucking sure.”
The door upstairs opens with a faint squeak, then we hear Emily’s light footsteps on the floor above us. I turn all the screens and speakers off, then walk toward the staircase as quietly as I am capable of.
I watch with anger, but also amusement, how carefully she descends the steps, never looking up until she gets to the bottom.
“About time you got your ass down here, babe.” I make my presence known. “Are you done talking to Steve-the-creep?”
“Puck,” she presses a hand to her chest, obviously startled. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here,” I inform her in a snotty tone. “And so do you,” I remind her. “That’s why I find it rude and disrespectful seeing that you’re trying to sneak away.”
“I’m not…”
“Lying is one of the least likable qualities in a person, Emily,” Devereaux speaks from right behind me. “In fact, it doesn’t even qualify as a quality, does it? I thought I’d taught you better than that.”
She doesn’t say anything, just stares at me, then at her father, no emotion other than despair showing on her face.
“You don’t understand,” she finally whispers. “This is not how I wanted to tell you about any of this. I just think it’s best if I go with Steve.”
“You’re not going anywhere but with me, babe,” I laugh in her face. “In fact, we’re going to leave right now.”
I grab her by the arm and drag her toward the front door.
“Puck, wait,” she tries to fight me off. “You don’t understand what’s at stake.”
I continue walking across the foyer until we are standing in front of the door.
“You don’t understand that there’s no way in this life or next that I would let you go. That I would let you sacrifice yourself for something you don’t even understand.”
“Puck,” she tries again.
I rip the purse off her shoulder and start rummaging through it.
“What are you doing?” she cries. “You can’t do that.”
I find her cell phone and hand it over to Devereaux. He pockets it with no hesitation. Next is the inhaler.
“No,” she tries to grab it from me.
“It really is the good stuff, babe,” I snort. “I tried it once and I slept like a baby. In fact,” I turn my head to look at Devereaux, “had I not promised your father that I’d stay drug free, I’d have had you hook me up with more.”
“Puck.” She is crying now, and I hate hearing her cry. Hurting her is the last thing I want to do. But the girl only understands tough love.
