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“She told me I was right about him, and I couldn’t leave her again. I had to get her out. I gave her the idea for the money thing one day when we met in secret, and she started it a few months later. She stayed with me because I was all she had. I was the only person who cared about her!” He slammed his fist on the countertop again, and for the first time, I felt real fear.
His anger was palpable. It crawled over my skin, and goosebumps popped up on my arms when he looked at me.
“Until she met you. And you became friends—brought her into your group. I was going to suggest we both go back to Wrexham, back to our families and away from this shithole of a town.”
That was a bit rude.
It needed a lick of paint or two, but it wasn’t that bad.
“You two stopped it. She started to see a place here, and it’s all your fault.” He ground his teeth together. “And now you know the truth.”
“Yeah, uh, about that,” I said, trying to edge my hand towards the handle of my bag. “Why don’t we pretend this never happened?”
He laughed that hollow, empty laugh again. “Really? You know we can’t do that, Charlotte. You’ll tell her what I did!”
“No, no, I won’t.” I could hear the plea in my voice as my fingers made contact with my bag’s handle. “They won’t arrest me. They would have by now. I don’t care.”
“You’ll tell her!” he yelled, and for the first time, I picked up on his unsteadiness.
He’d been drinking.
That skewed the odds in my favour.
“I—I won’t,” I said, touching my toes to the floor.
I was just going to make a break for it. I had no other choice.
This was literally do or die.
I grabbed the cup of hot coffee and launched it at him, grabbing my bag and running towards the door. I didn’t even care if I got to my car. I would go out there screaming my bloody head off it meant I—
Shane grabbed me, yanking me against him, and we stumbled. I screamed, dropping my bag, and clawed at his arms with my nails.
“Bitch,” he hissed, releasing me only to grab my hands, removing that line of defence.
I screamed again, contorting my body, trying desperately to shake him off. I was strong, but he was far stronger, even being drunk. I knew deep down that I was fighting a losing battle, but that didn’t mean I’d give up.
I was operating on fear, fear, and more fear.
My heart thundered in my ears as we fought, and as he dragged me, I slipped. My ankle twisted beneath me, and I cried out as I fell. Shane stumbled as I collapsed into myself, and I did what any good, terrified woman would do.
I reached out and punched him right in the dick.
He roared out in pain, and I used the counter to pull myself to my feet. My ankle burned with the weight I put on it, and it briefly crossed my mind that I might have just fractured it, but it didn’t matter.
I had to move.
I had to get out of here.
I couldn’t.
Shane was quicker than me, even with his own pain. I wasn’t fast enough thanks to my ankle.
“You’re not goinganywhere!” He grabbed me, this time by my hair, and yanked me back.
The room spun as I fell backwards, and there was a searing pain through my head as—
CHAPTER THIRTY
