Page 120 of Desolation

I try to take deep breaths, try to calm the anxiety and panic building in my chest but nothing works.

My eyes are closed when I feel a set of arms wrap around me. I go to scream but the smell of salt air calms me down.

“Shh, Mari. We need to get you out of here.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Landon

I’ve been watching her for two hours. She is a force to be reckoned with as she mingles with all these assholes. I can see the dollar signs in their eyes as she convinces them to donate to her cause.

And she looks beautiful. Who wouldn’t agree with her? Her caramel strands are piled on her head, showing off her slim neck, a neck I want my lips on. Her dress is anything but modest. Tight from her breasts all the way to her knees, every one of her fuckable curves on display. I need to tell my dick to calm down at least ten times.

I feel the hairs on the back of my neck go up when I see her soon to be ex-husband grab her. No one else notices the way he holds her too tight. Some think they are in love but I know the truth. I make my way along the edge of the crowd, trying to get close when I see him pull her away.

Mark is in my ear telling me to stay put but I can’t, I need to know what’s going on.

I find her in a deserted hallway, her husband with a firm grip on her wrist.

Her husband attempting to break her apart every chance he gets.

Then I hear the words that break me.

“What happened to the man I love?”

Love?

Is she still in love with him?

She promised me she wasn’t. Said she fell out of love with him a while ago.

But I heard her words as clear as day. I freeze as my mind fogs over. I don’t hear the rest of their conversation. I am too lost in the thought that I fell for a woman who could never love me like I loved her.

Who would?

I haven’t experienced real love ever in my life. Why would I be foolish enough to think I could get it from her. A married woman who still has feelings for her husband.

The sound of Mark’s voice in my earpiece knocks me out of my head.

“Stud, we need to get her out now. Threat was just made. Gizmo says all the money was withdrawn from the accounts earlier.”

“By who?”

“Rebecca Lance. Hulk says he no longer has eyes on her.”

Her CFO? What does she have to do with this?

“Meet by the west entrance. You have three minutes.”

I walk up to her and my heart breaks as her body shudders from crying, her breaths shallow. I wrap my arms around her and she tenses for a second before relaxing into my arms.

“Shh. We need to get you out of here.”

She nods but doesn’t move.

“Mar, come on.” I keep my tone soft although I am raging inside. Not just at knowing I have to let her go but at whatever threat is near.

Her legs give out as she tries to walk and I catch her in my arms. I can’t walk through the gala with her like this. And there is no back way to the west entrance.

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