Page 126 of The Love Destroyers

I think I’m going to make it, right until he grabs me by my wet ponytail and wraps his arm across my neck, squeezing.

I scream as Shadow falls from my grip and I’m tugged backward.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

SEAMUS

Text conversation with Emma

I found the collateral

Ten minutes later…

I’m going to bring it to you

I’m about to ring the buzzer on the gate when I see it—the vines on the side of the wall surrounding Smith House look ripped. Someone else climbed the wall.

Maybe it happened a while ago, maybe not, but seeing it stops my hand before it reaches the buzzer. I scale the wall myself, using the same path I took last time. My rib doesn’t like it much, but I couldn’t care less.

Once I’m on the other side, I look through the front windows and don’t see anything. Then I slide along to the side of the house to the kitchen doorway that I’ve seen Emma use a couple of times. I know the code for the pin pad, so it’s an easy thing to get inside.

Something I’ll have to talk to her about.

If she’s okay, a voice in my head whispers, and my pulse goes into overdrive, because if she’s not okay,Iwon’t be okay, and whoever hurt her will never be okay again.

I hear distant voices, and my skin crawls, because I recognize that asshole’s voice. Her voice responds.

I text Nicole:

Jeffrey’s in Smith House with Emma. Get the police here now. I'm going in.

My phone buzzes with her response, but I’m already pocketing it.

I choose a knife from the block in the kitchen, and then my heart stops, because I hear Emma scream.

I run toward them with the knife in my hand, probably looking like a fucking psychopath. My only thought to get her away from him, whatever it takes.

When I reach the foyer, they’re facing me. He has her in a headlock, and Shadow is hissing at Jeffrey from a distance, hopping up and down. Emma is coughing, sucking for air.

Jeffrey’s arms are covered in welts from the cat’s claws.

There’s nothing left of me but fear and rage.

“Let her go,” I bellow.

His eyes widen with recognition when he sees me, and he loosens his grip. Emma gulps for breath, her cheeks red.

“What the fuck areyoudoing here?” Jeffrey asks.

“I’ll kill you if you don’t let her go.”

I want to call her my woman, my Emma, but she’s not, and I don’t want him to know how precious she is to me. If I play my hand too quickly, or wrong…

He glances down at Emma. “You set all of this up.” He sounds almost pleased by it. “You really are obsessed with me, aren’t you?”

“Go to hell,” she says and spits at him.

Anger ripples across his face, and he tightens his arm again.

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