Page 50 of His Asset

He grunted and clasped himself as he fell to his knees, his face going white and his stare bright with pain.

He might be a fighter but I’d taken him by complete surprise.He probably thought a woman, even one who wasn’t all human, wouldn’t dare fight back.

I tossed back the loosened strands of my hair.“Sorry, self-defense.You can call itI don’t want to be in yet another prisonreflex.”I stood carefully, my entire face throbbing.“If this is how you treat a lady it’s no wonder you’re still single.”

“Bitch.”It was as if that one word cost him everything to say, before he added starkly, “You’re going to pay for that.”

I managed a laugh.“Join the queue, asshole.”

I pushed to my feet, then turned around and took a step toward the balcony.I wouldn’t waste my energy breaking the glass with my echolocation.Now that Reuben was incapacitated I’d shove open the door and walk directly through it, then glide away to my freedom.

I sighed.As much as I was happy to still wear jeans and boots, I should probably retrieve my bra and Adam’s shirt.Not only because his shirt would cover me, but because it was the one thing of his I still had.I kept walking.Nothing would deter me this time from my freedom.

Bang.

Chapter Nineteen

Ifroze.Then my wingsunfurled yet again as I spun around.The front door of the hotel’s penthouse skidded to a stop just meters away.When Adam stepped through, followed by three of his men with their firearms raised, I couldn’t help but gape.

“Adam,” I breathed.My chest compressed, every cell buzzing in his presence.I hated that he still made me feel anything, yet relief warred with resentment as I stared at him.

Part of me had always wanted him to come for me again, to prove I mattered, that I meant anything at all to him, even if it was nothing more than a fucked-up need to have his asset back.Another part hated that he wouldn’t let me go, wouldn’t give me the freedom I craved.

He really was just as merciless, just as much my captor as Reuben.

Adam’s gaze locked onto me, his face growing tight, his stare even tighter as he took in my swollen eye, my bloodied face.And finally, my bared breasts.

I drew my wings around me, covering up from Adam and his staring men.

“Bella,” he croaked.His next words verged on a growl.“So not only have you kissed Reuben—twice, now—I see you’ve done more.”

There’d been no cameras at the fight, but he obviously had friends, or spies, who’d infiltrated the underground fight ring.I almost ground my teeth together.I should have known nothing would escape his attention, not when it came to his asset.

So why did guilt pulse through me?He might have paid an exorbitant amount of money for me, but he didn’t own me, not anymore.The moment I’d ran away I’d become free.I made my own choices now, and that had included having sex with Reuben to finally feel complete after Adam had left me high and dry.

Too bad I kept making the wrong choices.I lifted my chin.They were still mine to make and to learn from.“That’s none of your business,” I said coldly.