Page 128 of Runaway Hearts: Seduced by Danger

I rise to my feet, my dress clinging to my legs. I hold the bottle of tequila like a pointing finger, inquisitively following the source of the noise. My hips twist toward it, followed by my chest and then my head, like a robot.

The moment my gaze falls upon him, I let out a startled hiccup, my mind struggling to process what I see. I stare incredulously at the tequila bottle in front of me, squinting in disbelief.

This can’t be happening.

It simply can’t be.

My heart pounds as I realize what’s going on. He must be trying to kill me, the jerk. The very thought sends a shiver down my spine, and my anger grows every second.

I glare at him with rage and indignation, daring him to try something. But he simply smirks, his hazel eyes shining with amusement.

The nerve of this guy!

“Hey, princess,” he greets me.

Icy water replaces my blood; my heart thuds faster, spreading the cold liquid in my limbs. Too much is happening at the same time. Words spoken by Eric, my therapist, even pharmacists smash into each other in the confines of my skull.

“Just take a pill, princess.”

“Oh, fuck off, Eric!” My words are mere whispers against the roar of the sea outside.

A man moves, his presence a shadow in my peripheral vision. I shift my focus from the sea to him, watching as he walks up to me, scanning me with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.

Regret flashes in his eyes before they harden again. “I might be an ass when I’m mad, but I’m not that kind of monster.”

Reality warps. My eyelids flutter as I try to put the pieces together.

A strange anger pushes on my side, growing bigger and more intense with each second of my silence.

“Let’s go inside, cutie pie.”

I exhale, the tension within me coiling tighter despite his words. “That was your plan all along, though, wasn’t it? Make me doubt myself, so I would be easier to manipulate. Willingly take the meds.”

He steps forward, his eyes narrowing. “My plan was to keep you safe.” His hands fall to his sides. “Marianne, what’s happening?” His expression is inscrutable, but there’s a frantic shimmer behind his eyes that makes bile travel up my esophagus.

“You found Dr. Rossi for me. All on your own…” I whisper as I sit on the sand next to the tequila bottle. “And then, you pushed and pushed and pushed the pills.”

He extends his hand to catch my wrist. A smell my soul recognizes overpowers my brain, but I can’t identify it. It’s just earthy.

“Don’t touch me!” I growl, scurrying back like wounded prey.

Eric smelled earthy.

My name falls from his lips, but I’m a breath away from connecting the dots of why I stayed. An old music record plays in my head. A lullaby.

Memories of Eric bleed into the present like a nightmare seeping into reality.

Because I loved him, I thought I was crazy.

Because I stayed, I thought I was weak.

And because I didn’t fight back, I thought I was worthless.

But the chemicals stripped me of the power to fight back long ago.

The betrayal cuts deeper than a scalpel, slashing through the foundation of my trust, leaving it to bleed out on the pristine wood floor of my beach house.

Why did I come inside?

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