“Are you… crying?”
I slap his hand away. “It’s none of your business.”
He chuckles. “You don’t know how much of my business you are, Maddie. But you’ll learn soon.” His eyes roam my face. “What happened? Did your boyfriend break your heart?”
“How do you know about him? And he’s not my boyfriend.” My brows pull together. “Doesn’t matter.” I shake my head. “It means nothing to you. Just leave!”
“No.” He catches the tail of my hair between his fingers and rubs it. “Not without you.”
A sick feeling fills my stomach. That’s the second time he’s saying that.
“I’m not leaving,” I bite back. I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing Chance and I fell out.
“Then I’ll have to force you, won’t I?” His eyes flash in the dark.
Fear molds around my heart. Todd was the boyfriend I had just because things aligned that way. I’d grown to love him, but that faded as time passed—as I realized he was nothing but a user. I did all the work, funding his life, and he was content to half-ass everything.
Then he cheated on me and I couldn’t hold us together anymore.
In all that time, he’d never terrified me like he was doing right now.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” my voice cracks.
“You don’t understand, do you?” he snaps, pressing close to my face so his breath fans my skin. “Your former bosses contacted me and asked me to bring you back. You’ve gone rogue. They’ve tried to reach you through emails, but you’re not answering.”
“They fired me,” I protest.
“Well, good news for you. They want you back.”
“I’m not going back to work for them. You can tell them that.” I fold my arms across my chest to hide the shivers pouring through me.
“You cheeky little thing,” he sneers. “You are coming with me. You think a simple no would make me leave?” He chuckles wickedly. “You’ve always been stupid.”
“Why are you doing this, Todd?”
“Money, babe.” He rubs a finger down my cheek.
I can’t help my reaction. I lean away from his touch and his eyes darken.
“I need the money. You’re not there to complete your part of the rent, so…” He curves his fingers into a fist. “I’m going to get it somehow. Quite interesting that the person who took my comfort from me would be giving it back, isn’t it?”
“You’re selling me out? You bastard! You were the one who cheated. You fucking broke us up!”
He rolls his eyes. “So fucking dramatic. Just because you found out that one time!”
“There were more,” I whisper, touching a hand to my chest.
“What do you think?” He glances at his watch. “I’m done playing catch up. Time to go.”
He wraps a hand around my arm. “Let’s go.”
“No.” I tug but fail to dislodge him. “I’m not going.”
His fingers dig into my arm, painfully. “Fucking move.”
“Todd!” I yell. “You’re hurting me.”
“And I’ll do worse if you don’t cooperate.”
