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Present.
Future.
It all seemed to be slipping us by.
I hated feeling this out of control.
I don’t know how long I sat there, remembering the day we took that photo. How beautiful she looked, how amazing she smelled, how her laugh and smile were so fucking contagious. The way she looked at my brother, the way she spoke to him, the way they were effortlessly perfect together. They had their own inside jokes and dynamic.
If we were together, I was the third wheel.
“Jesus, Adrian.” I tugged my hair back. “Get your shit in check.”
I was so jealous of him.
Of their friendship.
I wanted her.
I always wanted her.
It wasn’t fair, I met her first. She was mine. At times it felt like he stole her from me. Other times it felt like I gave her to him because I knew how much he needed something of his own. Constantly living in my shadow wasn’t easy for Cade.
I loved my brother.
I still did.
What occurred in the next few seconds happened so fast, yet it played out in slow motion.
Three…
Two…
One.
The sound of a bomb exploding erupted off the windows of my penthouse. The glass shattering all around us, followed by an ear-piercing scream that’d forever haunt me.
The alarms in my building immediately denoted as I ran out of my bedroom, trailing Paige’s hysterical cries.
Faster and faster I ran to the love of my life, hanging on by a fucking thread.
Thank God, the guards were already with her. It was what I paid them for. They were to protect her life at all costs, I could take care of myself.
“Sir!” Charlie shouted as he saw me hauling ass to them.
“We gotta go! Now!”
I didn’t think twice about it, I grabbed Paige and threw her over my shoulder.
She was shaking.
Not saying a word.
In shock, no doubt.
Her face was a blank canvas, but her eyes portrayed the terror she was feeling deep in her bones.
With security circling us, we sprinted down the stairwell to the parking lot of my building, running toward the SUV that was waiting for us. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, throbbing through my bloodstream. Taking over every inch of my body.
