Page 63 of Obsessing Over His Favorite

“Where are you taking me? I told you, we’re broken up. I don’t want to live with you anymore,” she said, struggling again to free herself from his grasp.

Lucas’s jaw flexed. He didn’t even look at her as he growled, “Where the fuck do you think you’re going to live? You’ve always lived in my bed. And that’s where you’ll stay as long as I’m alive.”

His fingers curled firmly around the back of her neck, holding her still as his fierce, serious gaze locked onto hers.

“There’s a limit to everything, Emily,” he added, his voice barely audible now. “But you’ve crossedeverydamn one of mine.”

She tried to push him again, but the strength in his hold wouldn’t let her move. It was like trying to fight a steel wall. Eventually, breathless and frustrated, she stopped moving and slumped slightly against him.

He took that as a surrender—and pulled her even closer.

The ride back to the Cantrell mansion was tense and silent.

When the car stopped outside the Cantrell mansion, Emily slipped out of his lap and opened the door.

She looked around, considering if she could run and get away this time.

But before she could move, Lucas swept her up over his shoulder.

“Lucas!” she screamed, pounding her fists against his back. “Put me down! What the hell are you doing?”

But he didn’t answer.

His grip only tightened around her legs as he stormed inside, completely unfazed by her struggling. He took her straight up to his bedroom and threw her onto the mattress.

She bounced slightly from the force, quickly scrambling up, fury blazing in her eyes.

“You’ve lost your mind!” she snapped, hair wild, chest heaving.

Lucas ran a hand through his hair and took a deep, controlled breath, finally speaking.

“Don’t be mad,” he said, as if the last ten minutes hadn’t happened. “I already talked to the media. I’ve made sure every single post about Amelia and me is being wiped from the internet. I told them there was nothing between us.”

She frowned. “What posts?”

“The dating rumors,” he explained. “The ones from a few days ago. They’re gone.”

She continued to stare at him, still not following. “So?”

Lucas responded, as if it explained everything, “So we don’t need to break up now?”

Emily blinked, stunned. Her confusion turned to disbelief as she stared at him, the air between them growing colder.

He stepped closer and reached for her hand, but she pulled it away quickly and stood up.

“Wearebreaking up, Lucas. This isn’t about those posts, or Amelia, or some stupid internet gossip.”

He took a frustrated breath and looked at her, eyebrows pulled together. “Then why? Why do you want to break up?”

She stared at him like she couldn’t believe the question had even come out of his mouth.

“Why?” she echoed, her voice tightening. “After everything that’s happened, you’re still asking me that?”

Her heart pounded as she continued, her words coming faster now, as if a dam had broken. “People think I forced you into this relationship. That I tricked you. That I pushed myself on you. They say I’m pretending we’re together when there’s nothing between us. That I’m clinging to something that doesn’t even exist.”

She looked away briefly, then back at him. “They think I’m delusional! That I’m pretending you ever loved me.”

Lucas closed the gap between them, his jaw tight, eyes blazing with conviction.