Page 101 of Sweet Possession

I raised my knee, hitting him in the groin.

He grunted, doubling over and letting me go. I didn’t wait to hangaround, I darted passed him, forgoing my bag with my clothes and money, and making my way as quickly as I could down the stairs.

But I wasn’t fast enough.

Footsteps followed behind me, my heart beating faster as the frontdoor loomed ahead of me. I managed to reach out and grab the handle when hands grabbed me again.

My dad spun me around, his snarling face snapping inches away from mine.“Fucking little bitch! I hope the next man I sell you to teaches you some goddamn discipline!”

Without warning, he reared back and punched me hard in the face. A ringing noiseblared in my head, my vision blurring as nausea crept up my throat.

And then my world went black.

Chapter 28

Fox

Before the planeeventouched down in Vegas, I was out of my seat.Every second of my return journey had passed excruciatingly slow, my mind in a sheer panic over where Cora was.

Unhelpfully, I tortured myself by rewatching the footage caught on mydoorbell camera of Lily turning up at the house and breaking my girl’s heart.

Of course, Cora believed every damn thing Lily told her. The worstpart was Lily wasn’t lying, not completely. I had gone out for a lunch date,justnot with her.

How Lily knew I’d been to Le Voile though, I didn’t know. Nor did Iknow how she knew I’d gotten shitfaced laterthatnight. It didn’treallymatter though, Lily used it to her advantage.

And she made sure to drive an invisible knife into mine and Cora’srelationship when she shoved her phone in Cora’s face. The camera caught the picture Lily was showing Cora.

The picture of us in bed after we’d fucked. The picturethatwas takenwhen Onyx first opened.

The picture takenmonthsago.

I would deal with Lily. Once I’d found Cora, Lily would regret everapplying for a job at Onyx and finding a way into my bed.

But not now.

Cora was my priority.

I knew something was wrong when she didn’t answer her phone. Assoon as I’d landed in New York, I’d called her, desperate to hear her voice.

But she didn’t answer.

I blew up her phone, hoping she’d fallen asleep and couldn’t hear itringing, but by the seventh time of my call being unanswered, panic set in.

I phoned Nash, telling him to get his ass over to my place to checkshe was okay, andthatwas when my world fell apart.

Cora was missing, along with some of her clothes, and the cash I’dleft her. But she’d left her phone and my credit card, the two things I could have used to track her.

Somehow, in my state of shock, anger, and hurt, I’d been rationalenough to load up the app for the camera, trying to get an understanding of how long ago Cora left, and whether she went in a cab.

But before I could scroll through and find the moment she walked outof the house, taking my heart with her, I saw a notificationthatsomeone had rung the doorbell a few hours after my flight to New York had departed.

I hadn’t watched all of the footage before I was rushing back throughthe terminal to where my pilot, Richard, was doing his post-flight checks on the plane. Within the hour, we were back up in the air.

Nash was waiting to pick me up when I landed. I wasn’t surprised tosee a worried-looking Savannah sitting in the back of the car, her eyes red where she’d been crying.

“Anything?”I said, sliding into the front seat.

Nash pulled away, his jaw grinding. The simple action told methatwhat he was about to say next was going to piss me off more than I already was.