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Panic floods my system as his hands slide down my stomach. He holds me in a suffocating grip that makes me feel trapped in my own skin, like a deer caught in headlights. Everything around me blurs as fear takes over. Suddenly, I’m thrust forward, and I hear Micah grunt behind me. My body locks up, and screams echo in my mind, but they never make it past my lips.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Asher’s voice cuts through the chaos.
He yanks Micah away from me with enough force to knock the breath out of him. The champagne bottle slips from my grasp. It’s almost as if time slows as the bottle shatters against the floor. A cascade of glass shards scatters everywhere, glinting dangerously in the dim light of the kitchen.
Asher’s fist connects with Micah’s face, and a sickening crunch echoes in my ears. He punches him over and over again. Micah grins up at Asher like a deranged lunatic, unfazed by the violence. It’s as if he thrives on this, feeding off it like a parasite.
“What are you doing?” Harper shrieks, her voice piercing the space as she rushes forward in a panic. She pushes Asher away from Micah, and her movements are frantic, desperate even.
“She came onto me!” Micah points at me. His expression twists, and he acts like a victim.
“No! I did not!”
His audacity rushes through me like an electric shock. I grab Harper’s arm, trying to pull her away from this monster, away from this terrible man whose eyes are full of malice.
“Let me go, Billie!” she snaps, jerking away from my grasp.
She bends down, her fingers brushing against Micah’s bruised face. Trust for him glimmers in her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she offers. “Let’s leave, baby.”
“Harp, don’t go with him.Please!” My voice rises in desperation,a frantic plea. I reach for her again, wanting to pull her away from him forever.
“Don’t touch me, Billie,” she says sharply, grabbing Micah’s hand with loyalty that makes my stomach turn. “He predicted you’d ruin this for us. You can never be happy for me, can you?”
“Harper, please.” Tears stream down my face. “You can’t be serious!”
I glance at Asher. His fury is unhinged, eyes wild with rage as they follow Harper and Micah out the back door. Asher looks at Micah like a predator watching his prey escape.
And then it hits me like a freight train.
My world fragments into a million pieces, each memory a shard that cuts deep.
“I will destroy him,” Asher vows through gritted teeth. His voice is dangerous as his promise hangs heavy in the air.
“He took my best friend.” My lip quivers.
Asher pulls me into his arms, holding me tight against him while nuzzling into my hair, like he’s trying to shield me from the pain, the betrayal.
“He asked me if I remembered him,” I whisper.
“It happened almost like this, didn’t it?”
The memory flickers like a faulty light bulb, distant yet hauntingly familiar.
My mind races through memories I buried. A fog lifts just enough for clarity to break through.
“Speak to me, princess. Please.” Asher’s voice is urgent yet soothing.
“I think he used to stalk me.” The words tumble out before I can stop them, each syllable heavy with a weight I never wanted to carry. “There was this one time in my twenties when a man did the same thing to me, but …” My voice trails off as horror washes over me again, flooding my mind with memories I’d rather forget. “I couldn’t describe him to anyone. It all happened so fast; it was like trying to catch smoke with my bare hands.”
Asher holds me tighter, his arms like a fortress as sobs tear through me like glass.
“Shh. It’s okay. It’s fine. You’re safe, my love.” His voice is calm.
“Ash,” I say between gasps for air, the panic clawing at my throat, “I don’t think those texts were from Josh. Or the flowers in London.” The realization is gut-wrenching, a sickening twist that makes my stomach churn. “I think they came from Micah.”
The thought is like ice in my veins.
“And now he has Harper.”