Page 70 of A Reclusive Heart

“So, you sent me death threats?” Jamie said in disgust.

“I had nothing to do with them, but I’ll admit that when I found out about them, I decided to use them to my advantage.”

“Let me go,” Jamie bit out as she tried to shove her away again only to have Holly dig her nails into her skin in warning.

“When I found out that Rick needed someone to join you on the tour, I decided to use your stalker problem to my advantage. I planned on seducing Nick during the tour but imagine my surprise when I discovered that he was otherwise occupied,” Holly said dryly, her expression turning cruel as she slammed Jamie against the wall, causing black spots to dance along her vision.

She sucked in a breath as she fought against the urge to vomit. Her head was killing her and she was pretty sure that a few more well-placed slams against the wall would knock her out and leave her at the mercy of the crazed woman determined to destroy her life.

“If you’d listened to me at the signing, none of this would have happened,” Holly said as her hands tightened around Jamie’s shoulders and slammed her against the wall again. The pained groan barely had a chance to leave her lips when Holly released her hold around her shoulders and wrapped her hands around Jamie’s throat.

“Now listen to me, you little bitch. I haven’t worked my ass off all these years for you to wreck everything. You’re going to write those books again and you’re going to make sure that they’re so good that Rerum has no choice but to ask you to sign with them again. You’re going to sign the contract and if you know what’s good for you, you’re going tobegRick to assign me to you.”

“And if I don’t?” Jamie managed to get out as she reached up and clawed at the hands wrapped around her throat.

“You will,” Holly said, tightening her hold around Jamie’s neck until it became a struggle just to breathe. “Do youunderstand? From now on, you will do exactly what I tell you to do.”

“No,” Jamie managed to get out as she struggled desperately for air. Her days as a pushover were over.

She would never allow anyone to push her around again.

Holly released a screech as her hands tightened impossibly further, cutting off the rest of Jamie’s air. As her vision flickered in and out, Jamie slapped, pushed, yanked, and even dug her nails into Holly’s arms to get away, but her efforts only seemed to piss Holly off more.

Her lungs burned and the world around her began to fade away as Jamie struggled to focus as she brought her leg up and rammed it between Holly’s legs, taking the much taller woman by surprise. Holly’s grip around her neck loosened, giving Jamie a chance to suck in a lungful of air as she took Holly by surprise and shoved her out of the way.

She stumbled to the side, giving Jamie a chance to run for it. Unfortunately for her, the crazed woman was blocking the only exit from the room, leaving Jamie with no choice but to stumble across the room and put the desk between them.

“You’ve ruined everything!” Holly screamed as she slammed her fists against the desk as her murderous glare landed on the letter opener and-

Jamie decided that it was time to make a run for it.

Within seconds, Jamie was racing across the small office, grabbing hold of the doorknob with trembling hands as she did her best not to think about the crazed woman behind her and finally managed to throw the door open. Before the door hit the wall behind her, Jamie was stumbling into the hallway and-

“Jamie!”

-sighing with relief when she spotted Nick making his way towards her with Rick and several officers close behind. A sob broke free as she ran towards him, relieved that this nightmarewas finally over only to release a small grunt when something slammed into her, knocking her into the wall. She barely had time to react when the heavy weight pinning her against the wall was suddenly gone and Nick was there, pulling her into his arms.

“Baby, are you okay?” he asked, cupping her face with shaky hands.

“Fine,” Jamie managed to get out, sending a fresh wave of pain through the back of her head.

God, her head was killing her and her throat burned every time she breathed, but as Nick pulled her to her feet, she couldn’t help but wonder if she could use this to her advantage and get her hands on that coffee roll waiting for her back in his office.

“Oh, shit…” Nick said hoarsely, drawing her attention to something on her shirt.

It took a moment for all the blood to register, and when it did, the pain decided to make its presence known. She looked up in time to watch the officers wrestle the letter opener from Holly as she was slammed to the ground and-

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Jamie heard herself say hollowly as her legs gave out and everything went black.

CHAPTER 34

“Chocolate,” Jamie whispered, and Nick couldn’t remember ever hearing a more beautiful word in his life. He sighed with relief as he left his chair, ignoring the aches and pains that came along with sitting in a plastic chair for three days straight and went to his little recluse’s side.

He cupped her face in his hand, careful of her oxygen tube as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Welcome back, sweetheart,” he said softly.

“Did I go somewhere?” Jamie mumbled sleepily.

“It’s not important right now,” he said, releasing a shaky breath. The last few days had been the worst days of his life. A few times, it had been touch and go, but she’d pulled through. His little recluse was a fighter.

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