Page 91 of Unbearable

“Chris Reynolds?”

I was so shocked the words were barely audible.

“Who else did you expect?” His vile smirk sent shivers down my spine, his eyes glinting with malice in the dim light.

“What… I don’t understand?” I stammered, my voice barely above a whisper.

“What don’t you understand, Dotty?” His voice dripped with sarcasm and disgust, making my stomach churn.

“How?” I asked, still trying to make sense of it all.

“You come back for the first time in a decade and think I’m not going to keep an eye on you? I put a tracker on your truck one of the first nights you were back in Woodstone. You probably don’t even remember, considering how much you drank. You should know, I don’t like my woman drunk.” He sighed, a look of feigned disappointment crossing his face.

“What?” Disbelief colored my voice. “Why did you do this?” I yelled, struggling to understand how someone I considered a friend could be responsible for this.

“Well, the plan wasn’t to take you back heretonight,” he scoffed, as if I had ruined his plans. “When I saw you leaving in the middle of Thanksgiving, I knew something was off. Then I watched you speed down the road past my ranch, and it confirmed my suspicions.” He laughed, a cold, hollow sound. “I followed you to the airport and could only assume you were trying to head back to Seattle, but I can’t let that happen, Dotty. You can’t leave for another ten years after I finally got you back.”

“I was never yours!” I shouted at him, my voice cracking with anger and fear.

“Oh, but you will be.” His smirk deepened, his eyes narrowing. “Settle down, or I’ll have to gag you. We may be on the edges of my land, but my brother could still hear you if you’re too loud.”

I saved that information for later. He slowly walked back and forth in the barn, weaving through the abandoned cars, then turned to glance at me, his eyes cold and calculating.

“But you probably knew that since we are neighbors.” He smiled an evil smile, his teeth gleaming in the dim light.

A sob escaped from my lips. “Please. Let me go,” I pleaded, my voice trembling.

“I can’t do that. You are mine. Don’t you get it?” he asked. “You are the answer to everything. We are meant to be together.”

I let my head hang, still feeling the dizziness of being knocked unconscious earlier. “I don’t understand, Chris. You were my friend.”

“No, not really.” He put his fingers to his chin. “I think Henry was your friend. Did you put out for him on your date?” He spit on the ground, walking around the dusty barn, weaving between the broken-down cars. “How do you think it made me feel when you finally come back to town and you agree to go out withmy brother?”

Bile crept up my throat, and I emptied the contents of my stomach next to me.

He approached me and bent down to look me in the eyes. “You think you can come back into this town after all those years away and think everything is fine? No, Dotty.You left, only a teenager, but then you come back looking exactly likeher.”

I couldn’t make sense of his words. My head felt so heavy that I could barely stay awake.

He stood back up and continued to weave through the cars. “This is the plan—I’m going to be nice enough to let you recover tonight. Then tomorrow, we are going to drive out to somewhere far enough away, where no one will recognize us, and get married. I don’t even care where we settle down and decide to live as long as you’re my wife.”

My resolve hardened as I glared at him. “I will never marry you.” I managed to collect enough saliva in my dehydrated mouth to spit at his feet as he stood before me.

“Oh, my dear Dotty, you have no idea the lengths I am willing to go to ensure our future. You can resist all you want, but I will get my way. I could always go after your family if you decide to resist.”

“You can’t touch my family,” I hissed, my anger rising.

“I obviously got toyoueasy enough. It wouldn’t take much to start a scandal and ruin Sawyer’s career, and all it takes is a couple of anonymous complaints to force Colt and Dorian to step down from their positions.”

Disgust welled in my body at his poor planning. Colt wasn’t wrong when he said my stalker was getting sloppy and reckless. Chris’s plan to get me to marry him hinged on ruining my brothers’ careers.

“You underestimate the power of my family. They will hunt you down like the coward you are.” I spat at him. Despite the fear coursing through me, I refused to show any more weakness in front of him.

“You still don’t understand, do you?” His voice was low and menacing. “Everything I’ve done, everything I continue to do, it’s all for you.”

When I didn’t respond, he kneeled down again to meet me at eye level. His presence was suffocating, his breath hot against my face. He forced my head up from where it hung.

“Pathetic. You are pathetic, just like your mother.”

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