Page 83 of Ruthless Game

“Emma, I’m not kidding. I won’t let you go. If you leave me and go to Oxford, I will fly out there and bring you back, kicking and screaming like you just did when we left the pool. If you decide to go to some other country, I’ll find you and bring you back, too. Hell, go to the fucking moon and delude yourself that I won’t follow you there, too. Haven’t I proven that? I followed you to the bottom of the pool, goddamnit. I don’t even need fucking oxygen, as long as I have you.”

She shook her head, tears forming, matching the ones I hadn’t bothered to brush off my own face.

She must have noticed, because she reached a hand up and brushed them gently off my cheek. I leaned into the softness of her wet palm, relieved that she understood. We’d make this work. We’d⁠—

“No, Lawson. I don’t want to do this anymore,” she told me. “All you do is hurt me, and I’m tired of being hurt. No.”

And then my arms must have gone numb and too heavy, because I dropped them and she was stepping away, leaving me in the shower, grabbing her swimsuit, and disappearing around the corner.

I stayed there, shivering, as she dressed quietly, and the door to the locker room opened and closed.

I stayed as my body went numb under the water.

Finally, I stepped out. And although I felt like she’d taken a sledgehammer to my chest, I wasn’t done.

Not by a long shot.

I meant it. There was nowhere she’d go that I wouldn’t follow. There was nothing she could do that would keep me from bringing her back.

Lie, cheat, or steal.

Emma wasn’t leaving me.

Ever.

I just needed a new plan.

Shutting off the water, I went back to the silent pool, grabbing my clothes, not caring that I was soaking wet. Pulling my phone out of the pocket of my sweats, I texted the group chat.

Lawson: I need help

Judah: Shit

Levi: Here we go

Jack: Does this have to do with Emma?

Lawson: Yes

Jack: Got it. What do you need?

Lawson: A remote cabin, rope, enough drugs to knock someone out for a long car ride, and probably soft handcuffs and a chain

Isaac: Shit

Asher: Hey when I told you to get her back I didn’t mean kidnap her

I squared my shoulders.

Lawson: Desperate times

The blackmail won’t hold up

I went too far this time

Asher: And you really think involuntarily relocating her to the woods will solve it

Lawson: I think we need time alone