Chapter 132
Chapter 132:
“Then why?” I cried, looking up at him, refusing to back down even as the predator in him surfaced. “Why did you leave me there? Why did you send me ‘Sleep well’ like I was nothing p>
He loomed over me, his chest heaving, his hands clenched into fists at his sides as if he were physically restraining himself from reaching out.
“Because if I had gotten out of that car,” he snarled, his voice dropping to a lethal, guttural whisper that raised the hair on my arms, “I would have torn his throat out in the middle of the street. I would have painted the pavement with his blood, and I wouldn’t have stopped until there was nothing left of him to bury p>
My mouth fell open. “Dallas p>
“And ‘Sleep well’?” His voice cracked. “What did you want me to say, Adella? ‘I love you’? ‘I’m sorry’? ‘Come home’? I couldn’t say any of that because if I started, I wouldn’t have stopped. I would have told you to run, to leave, to forget the mission and come back to me. And you would have — because you’re good like that. And then we would have lost everything p>
He grabbed my shoulders, his grip tight enough to bruise, but his voice broke on the next words.
“I know you’re there for a reason,” he hissed, his eyes burning with a dark, possessive fire. “I know about the ledgers, about the evidence you’re trying to find. I agreed to this plan, Adella. I let you walk into that house.” He pulled back, his chest heaving, his eyes wild with the confession. “But when I saw his hands on you — when I saw him touch what’s mine — I didn’t care about the mission. I didn’t care about the evidence. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to burn that house down just to make sure he never breathed your air again p>
“That’s what you’re dealing with, Adella. A monster who knows you’re playing a game and still can’t control himself when another male gets too close p>
Dо𝘄𝗇lo𝗮𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘭𝗲 р𝗗𝘍ѕ 𝗼𝗇
I stared at him, the breath caught in my throat. He had known all along, and he had let me go anyway. And now he was tearing himself apart because the logical part of his mind couldn’t silence the primal part.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, reaching up to cup his face. “I’m here. I’m safe p>
He closed his eyes, leaning into my touch like a starving man offered bread. “For now,” he rasped. “But every second you’re in that house, Ragnar is clawing at my ribs. Every time your heartbeat spikes, I imagine him hurting you. And I can’t do anything from here p>
“Then trust me to do what I came to do,” I said softly. “And when it’s over, come get me p>
He opened his eyes, the gold still swirling but the violence receding. “Forty-eight hours,” he repeated. “Not a day more p>
“Forty-eight hours,” I agreed.
He pulled me into his chest, burying his face in my hair, and for a moment the storm outside was the only thing raging.
When I finally pulled away, he caught my wrist one last time.