Page 78 of Stolen Love

The paramedic’s uniform comes into sight as he stops me. “Don’t try to move. We’re almost to the hospital. You’re very sick.”

We never did manage that pregnancy test. And I’d started feeling better, but this… is agony. “The baby?”

“We don’t know anything yet,” the man says.

My eyes start to slip shut.

“Hey.” The man’s voice is insistent. “You said the name Rogue. Who is that?”

“My… fiancé.”

“Great. Tell me about him.”

“I’m so tired.”

The ambulance comes to a shuddering halt. The doors are thrown open.

“Hey, what are you doing?” The paramedic’s voice changes and becomes strained.

I drag my eyelids up the width of my lashes. A second man fills the space above me. He has his service weapon trained on the man working on me. “Jackson?”

“You can leave now.” Jackson says as I struggle to keep my eyes from sliding shut.

“She needs treatment,” the man argues.

The report of Jackson’s weapon being discharged in the small space is deafening. A heavy weight crumples on top of me.

I can barely lift my head from the bed. The paramedic’s eyes are wide open. He doesn’t blink. His body doesn’t move with his breath because he doesn’t draw one.

Is he dead? He’s dead, right? Oh my God, he’s dead. Jackson just shot him. Adrenaline surges through me. My heart is screaming in my chest, my pulse is racing so fast. “Jackson? Why did you shoot him?”

Jackson’s expression is cold and hard. Yanking the IV from my arm, he scoops me up. “Time to go.”

My arm stings from where he pulled the line. Something wet trails down my arm. I fight the tears that try to overtake me. “I trusted you.”

“Shut up.” He grunts as his feet hit the asphalt.

Did he do something to me? Is that why I’m sick? “Where are you taking me?”

“There was quite the bidding war over you,” he says. “You have no idea how much you’re worth, do you?”

“I’m betting billions.” If Rogue is right about Nicole wanting me for my money, which seems more and more likely. I whimper as the darkness starts to reach for me again. “Let me bid on myself.”

“The thing is, little bunny”—he twists the cute pet name Rogue sometimes used into something cruel—“I’m a man of my word. The money has already been transferred. He owns you now. All that is left is for me to deliver.”

“He?” Alec? It has to be.

He stops at a car and tosses me on the backseat. “It’s been a pleasure, Miss Love. I’d suggest you lay off the chamomile tea in your next life.”

“You poisoned me?” He put something in the drinks he made me. Of course he did. I’d been sick for weeks, but then I got better. Until today… “Why?”

“Because your brother likes to watch you suffer.”

“He was watching me?” His gaze had been so keen when he saw me at Marty’s memorial. He knew that I would collapse at any moment. He was waiting for it. But before that… was Jackson recording me for Alec? Giving him an inside view of my life?

I feel so violated. He crept into every area of my life in order to hurt me.

“It won’t kill you. He wanted that to be at his own hand. Luckily for you, he didn’t have the… what the hell?” He grunts as he crumples to his knees. A stunned expression taking over his face.

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