Page 98 of While He Breathes

The door opening has me swiping the tears away before whoever is on the other side can see them.

I’ve already had a panic attack in front of these assholes. I don’t plan on showing them my weakness any further.

Lucas stands in the doorway, his eyes wild with anger, and I suck in a breath as he advances on me.

“You little fucking bitch!” he roars, his hand fisting in my hair a moment before he drags me to my feet. “This is all your fault.”

I shake my head, but don’t get a chance to speak before his other hand closes around my throat.

“You helped her escape. I know you did.”

“No,” I choke out. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You want me to believe that one of your friends just so happened to be at the clinic at the same time you were? That he just so happened to be in the right place at the right time to help that slut escape?” His words are full of hatred, and it takeseverything in me not to succumb to his anger, to not allow it to send me spiraling into another panic attack.

“How could I have known?” I cry. “I’ve been locked in here for days, and I didn’t even know she existed until today!” All true. Apart from telling her to run if she had a chance, I played no part in any of the events that led to her escape, even if my panic attack was the distraction she needed.

He slams my back against the wall, my head slamming into the cold concrete so hard stars explode in my vision. “You just lost me five hundred thousand dollars, Ember. And I’m going to work you until I get every cent of that back. Wife or not.”

My eyes widen at the insinuation.

“I’m going to knock you up and then whore you out. You have no idea how much men are willing to pay to fuck a pregnant woman. Can’t say I share in the appeal, to be honest, so I’ll need to get myself a plaything for those nine months.”

Every word out of his mouth is more vile than the last, but the picture he’s painting is nothing short of sickening.

“Please, don’t,” I choke out. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re the reason she’s gone, so you’ll be reimbursing me in full.”

He shoves me back, his hand releasing my throat, and my body crumples to the ground.

“Your dress will be delivered in an hour. We’re getting married tonight and then getting the fuck out of LA.”

I open myself to beg again, but what would be the point?

Lucas holds all the cards, and I’m nothing more than a pawn in his game, destined to live a life of misery.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

ORION

I’m losing my ever-loving mind, my hands slamming against the steering wheel so hard my bones ache.

But I need to feel something other than pure fear.

We lost the van in traffic, and even with Max and our hacker tracking them on the traffic cameras, they disappeared.

I lost her. Again.

Darius and Elsie sit beside me, but to her credit, she doesn’t flinch once as I use the steering wheel as my own personal punching bag.

“Orion,” he says softly. “You need to get it together.”

I growl, the sound barely human, before my hand comes down on the unsuspecting leather again.

He sighs, and he goes quiet for a few seconds before a phone is thrust in my face, and Killian and Max are staring back at me.

“Knock that shit off, O,” Killian snaps. “Ember is relying on you. She needs you. And you’re giving up on her.”