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I didn't realize how badly I'm shaking until I tried to buckle in, and it took seven tries. Luckily, Domenic is circling the car to get into the driver's side during that embarrassing display, so he doesn't notice.
He pulls away into traffic, and I keep my hands tucked under my thighs as I stare straight ahead. My heart is still pounding double-time, and I have no doubt that I might've been dead right now if Domenic hadn't found me the moment he did.
The Wild Seven are back, and now that I've turned Ace's job offer down, I'm sure I'm just further on their bad side. My gut is churning with anxiety and fear.
I'm so distracted by what just happened that I gasp in alarm when Domenic swears viciously and breaks hard, pulling over into a parking spot in an area nowhere near the casino. I turn to him to ask what he pulled over for when I see his dark eyes pinned on my throat. I'd forgotten all about the bruises probably already forming there.
Instinctively, I reach up to try to cover the marks, but he grabs my hand to stop me and meets my eye with a blaze in his own that takes me off guard.
"Who the fuck touched you?" he snarls.
He can't find out. I can't let him figure out who I used to run with, everything I used to do.
I shake my head quickly, forcing another smile onto my face and brushing off his concern.
"Relax. You're overreacting. I'm fine."
Chapter 8
Domenic
She's not fucking fine. Her throat is bruised.
Bruised.
Anger is coursing through me. Some fucker laid a finger on Loren, and she's trying hard to show it, but she's trembling. Her eyes keep shifting out the window, and I don't think she realizes her breathing is far from even. She's terrified.
Something is wrong.
I'm going to find out what happened. Then I will make whoever fucking touched Loren suffer until they beg me to end them. I can't pull my eyes away from the redness and light blue ringing Loren's neck. I'm going to break whoever did this.
"You're not fine," I practically spit. "Tell me."
She won't meet my eye. "You know, if you keep veering over to park in the middle of heavy traffic like this without using your signal, you'll cause a—"
"Loren."
She flinches at my voice. I hate that. Something has really shaken her, but I won't back down until I find out what it is.
"Look at me."
Her soft blue gaze meets mine, guarded. She's wringing her hands again. "I said I'm fine."
"I heard, and you better not repeat that lie again. Tell me who did this. It must have happened after I saw you last night, and you've been fucking avoiding me all day, so either it happened last night or today. Did this happen at home?"
New rage fills me at that idea. What if she was lying about not having a boyfriend? What if she's with an abusive asshole? I'm going to kill him.
"Tell me where you live," I growl.
"No," Loren practically yelps. "It wasn't at home. It—it was today." She sinks into the seat and swallows, obviously pained by the action. Her voice doesn't sound right, and that makes me livid. "Earlier."
My patience is at zero, which must reflect on my face because she heaves a sigh and rubs her face, still shaking. "Look, I just…I crossed paths with some dangerous people back when I was hacking casinos a lot more."
"Was this another casino owner?" I press. If so, fuck being friendly business competition with them. I'll rip whoever did this to shreds. I might seem calm and collected when I'm angry most of the time, but this is not something I'll be calm about.
"No."
"Give me names."
