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I swung my bat, colliding with his chest. He made anoofsound and bent forward, dropping his arm from Saoirse.
“Run!” I screamed, winding up to hit him again. “Go get Lock!”
Once Oliver wasn’t touching her, she woke up and scrambled away from him. He howled as she darted toward the door, lunging for her. I swung my bat, catching him in the arm and spinning him around to face me. Saoirse yanked open the door and ran, yelling for her brother.
Oliver didn’t let her escape deter him from his mission of destruction. If he’d been mad before, now he was furious. He flicked open the knife, swinging the blade around in front of him.
“Stay away from me,” I warned. “Don’t make me break your dick.”
“Why not? You broke my business. You made a fool out of me and stole my chance to find investors. Why not break my dick too?” He scratched his head with the knife. “No, no, that won’t do. I think I’d rather break you. You’re not going to take another fucking thing from my family. Taking my brother and my business is too much, Elena. I can’t let you get away with it.”
“Fuck you, Oliver. Nate was a monster, and so are you.”
With the speed of a man who’d given up all pretenses of sanity, he grabbed the end of my bat and yanked it out of my hands, tossing it aside. He took one step, then another, and I had nothing to defend myself from him.
I tried to break for the door, but he was there, blocking my path. Lock would be here soon. Lock would stop him. I just needed to give myself time. A door between Oliver and me. If I couldn’t leave, I’d hide.
Swiveling around, I ran for the stairs, scampering up them as fast as I could. I felt Oliver behind me, his breath practically on my neck. There was screaming, and it might have been from me, but I didn’t know if it was happening in my head.
I crested the last step, only to crash onto my face when Oliver caught my ankle. I kicked at him, connecting with something solid, but my feet were bare, and he was too crazed to feel pain, so he kept coming, crawling up my legs.
A boom rang out from the front door.Lachlan!Oliver must have locked it, because the banging continued.
“Just stay still,” Oliver gritted out. “You slippery little bitch, stay still and take your punishment.”
“Never! I’ll never stay still.”
I bucked and clawed at the ground, pulling myself away from him. Oliver might have had crazy on his side, but I had the strength of a woman who refused to become a victim yet again. I kicked out again, hitting what felt distinctly like a nose, then again and again, until Oliver loosened his grip and I slid on my belly out of his hold.
“You have to be punished,” he yelled with the righteous passion only a rich, overprivileged mama’s boy could summon.
I flung myself into my bedroom, slamming the door closed just as Oliver reached out to grab me again. He roared on the other side, driving his body into it over and over. All I wanted to do was curl into a ball and cover my ears until this was all over, but I made myself stand there, waiting, watching, ready to fight if I had to.
“You ruined me, Elena. Everything is ruined. All because of you. My family, my brother—it’s all destroyed, because of you. Why couldn’t you just let it go? Why’d you have to stick your nose in it?” The door handle rattled, but the lock held.
“Elena!” My heart flipped in my chest. Lachlan was here.
“He has a knife,” I screamed. “Lachlan, he has a knife!”
The next five minutes were the longest of my life. I had no idea what was going on out there. There was scuffling, the sounds of fists meeting flesh, but I couldn’t tell who was winning. If Oliver hurt Lachlan, if he stabbed or cut him, I’d rip his heart out and bind him with his intestines.
The doorknob jiggled, and I shrieked, jumping away from it.
“Elena, it’s okay, sweet girl. It’s me. I want you to stay there until I come back. The cops are outside. Tell me you’re okay.”
I pressed my hand to the door. “Areyouokay?”
His exhale was heavy and ragged. “I’m doing fine. Now that I know you’re good, I can handle what I need to.”
“Lachlan, Lock,” I called in a panic.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
A pause, then a light clunk on the door. “I love you too, El. So fucking much. Stay there. I’ll be right back and tell you to your face.”
I believed him. I trusted him. So, I sank down to my butt and waited for the man I loved to come back to me.
