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I nodded. There was only one person I could trust with this. One person who wouldn’t judge me. And he fucking owed me his life after all the shit I got him out of. “Johnny.”
A sudden nervousness came over her, and it wasn’t until then it occurred to me. She looked at me as if she had seen me somewhere but couldn’t put her finger on where. I was sure she had.
“Johnny who?”
“Johnny Grey,” I muttered, and she let out a nervous breath.
“I knew I saw you somewhere.”
I shot her a glare.
I paced my room like a caged animal. Back and forth. Back and forth, slowly making a shadow of a path on the white carpet under my shoes. Alex wasinvestigating, and the news he was bound to come back with made it impossible to think of anything but. Thousands of different images replaced each other in my head. One worse than the other. But all of them had one thing in common.Marc dead on that cold hard floor.
It took all my self-control not to find the nearest person and demand I be taken to the dungeons. Only Alex knew that I knew, and it needed to stay that way. But I needed to know. Needed the closure. No matter how bad it would hurt.
After that… what would I do? Stay with Alex, playing his twisted game? Or take my first chance to run? I owed him nothing, not without Marc’s safety. Without him, Alex had nothing on me. Marc was my dirty little secret, the one thing he could blackmail we with. If he was gone…
Determination settled over me, glazing the worry in cold resolve. The things I knew about Alex was my ticket out. Now the tables turned, and this time, there was no room for failure.
I went around the room, finding my items and shoved them back into my bag. When Alex came bursting through the door, the bag was sitting next to it, and I was ready to go.
“What’s this?” His dark eyes darted to the bag, then skipped to me. I sat, stiffly on the couch, and sprang to my feet as his narrowed gaze assessed me.
“Deal is off.”
Alex looked around, as if worried someone could hear, then he closed the door before crossing the floor in quick strides. “The hell it is!”
I backed away before he grabbed me, glaring up at him. “Don’t touch me!”
Alex let his hands drop to his side. “He’s not dead,” he hissed. “So watch your fucking mouth.”
My heart did a little leap, pushing a soft gasp up my throat. Then just as fast as hope flared, it burned out. “You’re lying.” I shook my head trying to clear it. “You’re just saying what I want to hear.”
“I’m not lying!” He threw his hands out in frustration. “He got away.”
No. It was a trick. I read the boyfriend’s text.He didn’t make it. Leaving alone.
“No.” I shook my head to emphasize the truth. “You’re scared I’ll expose you.” I took a step forward, poking a finger to his chest. “Your dirty little secret.” Tilting my face up to look into his eyes, I went on. “I will unless you let me go. I’m not your prisoner. I’m not your wife!”
Alex grabbed my wrist, holding my arm in a grip tight enough to make me wince. “You think you’re smart. That you’re in control?” His voice was strained, as if keeping form shouting, and the grip tightened further.
“Let me go,” I whimpered. “You’re hurting me.”
“Good!” he snapped. “You stupid bi—” he cut himself off, letting go of me with a shove that made me stagger back. “I’m telling you he’s alive. Your idiot bodyguard is fine. He’s free. What else do you want from me?”
“I saw it!” I shot back. “I saw the text. You’re lying!” I stormed past him and yanked the door open and slipped out. Tears clouded my vision as I ran down the corridor. I darted past closed doors, expecting them to open and hands reaching out to snatch me. I increased the speed, blinking tears from my eyes to see. Everything blurred. The white carpet, hazy and distorted under my feet seemed to roll with each step. The wooden panel and the white walls blurred until everything was a kaleidoscope of black and white. The corridor shrank and lengthened until I was running in an endless tunnel.
“Stop!” Alex’s hand caught my arm, and everything normalized around me. He abruptly yanked me to a halt that made us crash into each other. I screamed, grabbing him as I fell, and we both landed on the floor, Alex on top.
“Get off me!”
“I’m telling you the truth!” Alex rolled away and was back on his feet in a flash. The look on his face made me falter. Desperation, mixed with worry, and tinged with disgust made the insecurity in me flare. Why did he look at me like that? As if I was something he wouldn’t touch if his life depended on it? He eyed me with disgust, as if I was poisonous and the unwanted body-contact infected him.Marc avoided me too…something inside painfully reminded me. He pushed me away every time I tried to touch him…
“What?” Alex snapped. “Did I hurt your feelings?”
I swallowed down the emotion, turning my eyes to glare back at him. “I’m telling Mr. X.” I turned to leave, but Alex’s voice stopped me.
“Wait.”
