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"But first... I’m going to teach you a lesson. You willneverbe rid of me, Elsa; not as long as both of us are alive. I'll never be far from you. I'll always be watching. I'll never let go of you and Avery. Never."
Anger rips through my veins. All the hair on my body stands on end. A current of energy grips me, and adrenaline spikes my blood. "Damn you." I snap my head back and connect with his chin. He yells out, releases me again, and I stumble back. He grabs at my jacket, and I pull away, leaving it behind in his grasp. Anger twists my guts, and fear courses through my veins. I am not going to let him get to me. I’m going to make sure he never has a chance to come near me or Avery, ever again. I leap forward, out of the living room, down a short corridor that leads past a sun room, toward the back of the house. I spot the entrance to a room and dart inside, then slam the door behind me and lock it. Almost instantly, a heavy weight slams into the barrier from the other side, and the entire frame shakes.
My breath catches in my chest. A shiver of fear runs down my spine. I spin around, searching for a weapon, just as his weight hits the door again, and the frame shudders.No, no, no, it’s not going to hold.
"Open the goddam door, Elsa, or you’re going to regret locking me out even more," he bellows.
Clearly, his housekeeper isn’t here; or she'd have made an appearance by now.
I slide my hand inside the pocket of my pants, but there’s no phone. Shit, I put it in my jacket pocket. Fear stabs at my chest. My ribcage feels like it’s constricting my lungs.Oh, my god! What have I done? How could I have been so stupid? How could I have put myself in danger like this?I walked out of the house without thinking. Without worrying about Avery. I knew Seb would be there with her. I trusted him to take care of her… Or at least, my subconscious did. It didn’t even occur to me to think otherwise. I thought I was so clever. Why didn’t I stop to think? Why didn’t I wake him up and speak to him instead?
I continue searching for some kind of weapon I can use. I spot the poker near the fire and race toward it, and that's when the door flies open.
With a scream, I leap back, then round the coffee table in the center of the room and put it between me and him. Not that it’s going to help. It’s one more thing blocking my escape. And I don’t have a weapon.
I glance at the poker, then back at him.
He laughs. "Oh, no you don't." Blood stains his shirt and he staggers toward me.
I hold up my hands. "Don’t touch me," I snarl.
His gaze falls to the ring on my finger, and his features contort. "You married him. You thought his influence with the Mafia would scare me off. It’ll take more than some two-bit criminal to stop me from getting to you."
"He’s not a two-bit criminal. His family owns this country, and you know it. Touch me, and the entire Sovrano family will be after you."
"Oh, I’m going to do more than touch you. I’m going to mess you up so much, he’s not going to be able to recognize your pretty face again. And then he won’t want you anymore. He’ll throw you away like the trash you are."
He throws himself over the table. I scream and scramble away again. The chair behind me hits the wall and crashes to the floor. I glance around again for something, anything to defend myself with.
I spot a drawer, pull it open, and find a gun. I snatch it up and point it at him as he straightens. He freezes instantly. It’s amazing what a gun in the right hands can do. Just like before, his gaze ping-pongs between the gun and my face.
"Oh, so you’re going to try that again?" he asks, his tone so condescending, I instinctively curve my finger around the trigger.
By god, how I want to squeeze down and be done with him. "What I do know is that I have the gun, and you are on the wrong end of the barrel." I wave the gun at him. "Step back, or I promise, I'll shoot you."
"I’ve seen your shooting," he scoffs.
I look pointedly at the blood staining his side, and he balks. "I’ll do it." My chin trembles, and I clamp my lips together. I will not let him see how afraid I am right now.
"No you won’t. After all, I’m the father of your child."
"Seb has been more of a father to Avery in the few days he’s been with her than you ever have."
His jaw hardens. "You dare compare me to that Mafioso vermin?"
"That man has done more for Avery in a few weeks than you have in all the time you’ve been her father. You never held her after she was born. You never even looked at her. You never cared about her, or me. She was just another tool you could use to control me."
"What’s wrong with that?" He raises a shoulder. "I thought you wanted someone to control you.” He smirks. "Everything was working out so well. I encouraged you to be with him so you could get me information that would help me put him and his brothers behind bars. I’m the one who orchestrated the series of events that led to you knocking on his nonna's door and asking for help in the first place."
I pale. "That was you? You were behind the cars that crowded me so I had no choice but to take the road that led to his nonna's house?"
He half bows. "Clever, eh? Knew he wouldn't be able to resist a damsel in distress. All the Sovranos think they’re these big bad guys, but they can't pass up the opportunity to play a knight in shining armor."
My pulse thuds at my temples. Sweat beads my brow. "You’re the one who shot and killed his nonna?"
"Not me, but one of my men. It wasn't intended, but I have to admit, the payoff from it was much sweeter. Nothing like upping the stakes so emotions run high and make people more vulnerable. It accelerated the chain of events and led to him proposing to you. Even I couldn't have planned it so well."
Anger squeezes my chest with such force that I can't breathe.
