Page 98 of Enthrall Climax

“Helete.” I steepled my hands in prayer to draw on my fading patience. “If Mia is in any way harmed—”

She quickly got to her feet. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

A flash of movement rushed from my right. As I regained my balance, Helete leaped back and Zie moved out of the way. Shay and I both grabbed hold of Henry, restraining him.

“Where the fuck is she?” Henry yelled at them.

“Security!” Helete looked furious.

Shay managed to overpower Henry and with the help of a security guard, he struggled to get him to the door. The staff had probably called the police. I faced Helete again.

I had seconds left.

“This will end badly for you.” I kept my tone even despite my growing rage. “Unless you tell me the truth.”

“What is it that you see in her?” snapped Helete.

“Her innocence,” Zie muttered.

Helete looked triumphant. “What happens when Mia follows the same path as Zie?”

“Path?” I knew what she was insinuating. Wherever Mia was, she was in danger. She’d been put in a position where men were free to abuse her. Though unlike Zie’s situation, this wouldn’t be with consent.

Zie wallowed in depravity. If this was Mia’s fate, I would have to live with knowing I was to blame. I’d exposed her to these people.

“You rejected Zie because she was taken by so many men.”

Helete’s words saturated my senses.

“Keep your voice down,” Zie snapped at her.

Terror knifed through me as I tried to fathom how far Helete would go.

“You brought this on yourself,” she hissed.

This is what it is to love. I felt like I was being flayed alive while being dragged into the pit of hell. I’d walk through those fires for an eternity if that’s what it took to get her back. She was all that mattered.

My fists burned with restraint. “One more chance.”

A firm hand wrapped around my upper arm and dragged me backward. Turning sharply, I faced Shay and read his taut expression.

“The police are close,” he warned. “We have to go.”

I pulled away. “I’m not done.”

“If they arrest you…” he said the rest with a glare.

I’d blown it.

Shay led me all the way back to the car with a steel grip.

Back in the SUV, I vaguely listened to him trying to calm Henry down as I replayed my conversation with Helete. Maybe this was an empty threat? A trap to rile me up so I did the unthinkable and burned my reputation with the kind of violence there’d be no coming back from.

“How the hell are you so calm?” Henry grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and twisted the cap.

I went for the door handle. “I have to go back.”

Sirens blasted around us and I realized it was too late.