Page 109 of When Love Found Us
“She’s my wife. You think you or those fucking papers can keep her from me?” His voice drops, eyes narrowing. “I own her.”
I press the gun harder against his forehead.
“She was never yours.”
His lips part, but I don’t let him speak.
Gunfire explodes outside.
Sanford’s voice cuts through the comms, tense. “We’ve got company—three more, moving fast.”
Motherfucker.
Winston lunges.
I pivot, but he’s faster than I expect, his hand catching my wrist. The gun fires wild, slamming into the wall. I shove him back, but he’s already swinging.
His fist connects with my ribs.
Pain burns through me, but I don’t stop. I drive an elbow into his jaw, sending him staggering into the side table. He shakes it off, eyes flashing wildly.
“You think you’re some kind of hero?” he sneers, wiping blood from his mouth. “She’ll never be free of me. I bought her.”
I lunge.
His back slams against the wall, my forearm pinning him by the throat.
“She’s a person, not an item to be bought,” I grit out. “Not your punching bag or someone you can hurt because you’re a fucking monster.”
His hand scrambles for something. A knife. Small but deadly. He jerks it upward, aiming for my side.
I catch his wrist.
He struggles, breath coming short and shallow. I twist, turning the blade back on him.
And maybe, for the first time in his life, Winston Worthington IV knows what it feels like to be powerless.
His pupils blow wide. “She’s mine,” he rasps.
I tighten my grip.
“No,” I say, voice quiet but cutting through the air like a final verdict. “She’s her own person. And if I’m lucky enough, one day she’ll love me enough to call me hers.”
Then, I shove the knife into his throat.
Winston jerks, choking. Blood spills between my fingers, hot and relentless. His body trembles, then collapses against the wall. His lips part, but no sound comes out.
I step back.
He slides to the floor, hands pressing uselessly to the wound as if he can undo it.
He can’t.
I crouch, gripping his jaw, forcing his gaze to mine.
“She never belonged to you,” I murmur. “And now, she never will.”
His eyes glaze over.
