Page 56 of Malicious Marriage
“Bullshit, you lying bitch! Men came, Clover. Do you understand? Assholes came to take care of me but I slipped away. Why? Because I’m a fucking roach. No one can kill me, understand? No one. And now I’m going to make you pay.”
His words don’t make any kind of sense. I paid him and thought that would be the end of anything I ever had to do with him, but he’s talking about people trying to silence him? Would Bobby do that?
No, it’s not his style.
Tears flood my eyes as each struggling attempt to get free of Ryan only amplifies my pain and my head simply won’t stop spinning.
“I won’t be silenced, cunt. I’m going to tell him. I’ll track down that rich bastard and tell him all about the real reason you owed me money. A man like that, a Savoy of all things? I know how they work. There’s no way he’d look at you twice if he knewyour uncle kicked you out, or that you spent years maxing out credit cards to pay for living and Bobby’s wages, only to end up in so much debt that you had to crawl to me and beg for an out. How would he feel, huh?”
Ryan’s fingers dig cruelly into my jaw. “Would he be willing to be with you knowing that I paid all your debt and took it on myself? And still, you asked for more so you could eat and pay your bills. Fuck, I even paid for this fucking car, didn’t I?”
“No!” I gasp finally. “That’s not true!”
“Bullshit, it fucking is and you know it! And I know how much money Uncle Byrne has locked away so I was patient enough to give you the grace to pay me back whenever you were done with your stinking little plan. But you made me wait too long and now you send people to try and kill me? Nah, Clover. Fuck that and fuck you!”
He shoves against me then stumbles backward, throwing his hands in the air while he laughs. “Once he knows the truth he might fucking pay men to kill you. How funny would that be, huh?”
I sag forward, gasping for air and clutching at my chest while struggling to keep up with everything he’s saying.
“This is the last time you screw me over, Clover. You never should have messed with?—”
Ryan’s body suddenly catapults up into the air and somersaults over the hood of a blue car that screeches to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. I scream, watching Ryan’s body twist and contort before it slams down onto the hood of the car and slumps off onto the ground. The blue car veers to the side and crashes hard into the wall.
“Ryan!”
The door of the blue car swings open and Bobby stumbles out, panting and unsteady on his feet. “Did I get him?” he gasps, hanging onto the car door. “Did I get the fucker?”
“Bobby?” This is too much and bile sweeps up my throat despite how hard I swallow to keep it down. “Oh, my God.” I spin on the spot and double over as I spew onto the ground, gagging and heaving as heat crawls up my body and tightens around my shoulders. Gasping for air, I straighten up to see Bobby standing over Ryan’s broken body.
“The fuck—is that my uncle’s car?”
25
DEAN
The call that Clover is in the hospital comes just after my evening workout. I abandon everything and rush to be by her side, but just as I get there, Don calls with more bad news. Out of the three men he sent to take care of Clover’s ex, two of them didn’t make it. The third lost him in a car chase and now can’t get to him because it turns out he’s also in the hospital.
All of the pieces don’t come together until I rush into Clover’s hospital room and her wide, tear-filled eyes lock onto me with open confusion. “Dean?” She sniffles and quickly wipes her damp cheeks. “What are you doing here?”
“Did you think my fiancée could end up in hospital and I wouldn’t hear about it?” I say gently, carefully placing a lid on my confusion and anger so as not to alarm her. “Tell me what happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
I approach slowly and stop a foot away, mindful of the boundary Clover placed between us when it comes to physical affection, but the urge to reach out to her is strong.
“It’s all such a blur.” She hiccups and balls up the damp tissues in her hand. “It all happened so fast.”
“Tell me,” I coax as gently as I can. “What happened to your face?”
She gently touches a small cut on her lower lip and shakes her head. “I–I was just driving. I wanted to go to the bakery and then I was going to come and see you—” A sob cuts her off and she closes her eyes.
As tears roll down her cheeks, I can’t hold myself back any longer. She flinches faintly at my touch to her cheek so I delicately brush her tears away with the back of my knuckles and return my hand to my side. “Take your time.”
“I was parking when someone hit me from behind. I’m fine, mostly. The doctor says I have some whiplash and they’re worried about a concussion because I was sick, but I’m mostly okay. I was climbing out and then suddenly, Ryan was there.”
My blood ignites. “Your ex?”
She nods, sniffling. “I’m sorry. He just… he was so angry. Accusing me of all these things. He seemed to think someone was trying to kill him but that doesn’t make sense because he’s…”
“A loan shark?”