Page 68 of Forbidden Hearts

“Jacob! If you touch my mom, I swear to God I will fucking kill you,” I spit out. My throat is tensing with fear and rage. I have the sudden urge to get in my car and drive to her house, but she lives an hour away. By the time I get there…

“I’m calling this whole thing off,” Jacob says. “I gave you more than enough time to find the money, and you failed. It’s beenweeks,and you have nothing to show for it. Meanwhile, my fucking club hasn’t been pulling in enough customers since you left. You’re done. You’re coming back to work for me.”

My fist tightens around my phone. My first instinct is to tell Alonzo what’s going on. Maybe he can help me.

But then I would have to explain to him that Jacob and I were trying to rob him. That will not end well for me.

“Come to the club tomorrow night,” he says. “We’ll announce your return and things will go back to the way they were before, with you by my side. And for fuck’s sake, don’t try anything stupid. Don’t call the police or come thinking you can take your mother away. Two of my reapers will keep your sweet mother company from now till the day she dies. When that day comes will be up to you, Alex.”

“Please, don’t hurt her,” I beg with anger in my voice.

“I won’t have to if you do as I say,” he says. “First things first. Call things off with the beaner and drop his class.”

The call ends, and I’m left standing here as my entire world spirals out of control. I feel sick.

I throw up the entire food and drinks of the night.

“Holy shit! Alex, are you okay?” Gianna asks.

She runs to my side and pulls my hair up as I purge on the ground. Isabella and Abby stand beside her with mortified looks on their faces.

“I think I drank too much,” I manage to say.

There’s a heavy pit in my stomach, and my heart is racing so fast I think it’s going to give out any minute now. The knot in my throat squeezes tighter. It’s hard to breathe.

“Alex?” Isabella asks, placing her hand on my shoulder. I’m still leaning forward, trying to catch my breath, but fuzzy things cloud my vision.

What is happening to me?

Numbness spreads to my limbs, especially around my fingers. They tingle as if they fell asleep.

“The truck. It was him…”

“What truck?” Abby asks.

“I can’t,” I say, unable to squeeze the rest of the words out. The knot in my throat squeezes tighter. This is it. I think I’m going to die.

“Holy shit, Alex!” Gianna says.

The girls hover over me, trying to lift me from the ground. My vision darkened so much that I didn’t realize I collapsed.

Behind the girls, Alonzo emerges from the crowd of onlookers. His face is in full terror. He leans down and asks the girls what happened.

The last thing I see is the horror in his eyes. Then everything goes black.

???

Alonzo is the first person I see when I wake up. He sits on a chair next to the bed, staring at me. This situation feels oddly familiar…

“What happened?” I ask, examining my surroundings. I’m in his bedroom, and there’s a man standing at the door with his arms crossed.

“You had a panic attack,” Alonzo says. He rises from his chair, leans down to me, and caresses the side of my face. “At least that’s what Santiago thinks.”

He motions to the man standing by the door. He is tall, with a sharp jawline like Alonzo’s, but no beard. They kind of look alike.

“Fainting during panic attacks is rare,” the man named Santiago says. “Have you had panic attacks before?”

“No,” I say. “It was my first one.”And I thought I was going to die…Why did I have a panic attack in the first place?

---