Page 39 of Veiled Vows

“Okay, okay!” We laugh and exchange tight hugs, then I leave feeling slightly better about her situation. She still has a long road to recovery, but being in a safe place will work wonders in keeping her on the right path.

As I head down the steps, my phone blares to life with a call from mother. “Hello?”

“Jasmine, where are you? I expected you home hours ago!”

“I’m sorry, I was with Catherine.”

“This whole time?”

“Yes!” The streetlight flickers as I come to a stop underneath it and lift my arm, waving over my driver. “I’m on my way back though, so I’ll be half an hour tops.”

“I have far too many dresses here for you to be wasting time,” Bianca snaps. “Hurry home!”

As soon as the call ends, another one comes through, but this one I hesitate to answer.

It’s Roman.

I haven’t spoken to him since we fucked in the deli, and while it was likely intended to make me doubt him, Alto’s words about Roman’s true intentions linger in my mind. I was getting attached briefly, and even now seeing his name makes my heart skip a beat and my skin tingle.

But I don’t know him. Not really. And I can’t talk to him right now, not with my overzealous mother waiting.

I decline the call.

Sliding my phone back into my pocket, my driver pulls up alongside me and out climbs one of my bodyguards. He flashes me a tight-lipped smile and holds the door open.

“Is everything in place?” I ask. “Security is armed? Catherine’s bodyguard is in place?”

“Yes, ma’am, everything you requested.”

“Excellent, I’m going to also need you too?—”

A loud gunshot echoes in the night air and a spurt of red erupts from his throat. Blood sprays from the sudden gaping wound in his neck, coating my face in wet warmth as I stare in utter horror. The blood is like a hose pouring from his neck in what feels like liters over the course of a single second. His eyes widen and he drops to the ground. Another gunshot rings out and I duck into the car as something collides with the roof.

“Drive!” I dive into the backseat and slam the door closed. “Fucking drive!”

My driver does just that. I barely spare a thought for the man we leave behind as another shot rings out in the distance and thumps into the car. What the fuck is going on?

Is this Seth? There’s no way he’d be so bold, or skilled to do something like this. It has to be something else, but what the fuck? Cowering down on the back seat, I brace one foot on the floor and try to get onto the seat as my driver swerves around traffic and races through the city.

There’s blood everywhere. All over my face, soaking into my clothes, and coating my hands, making my attempts to get my phone ten times harder.

“Where to?” yells my driver.

“I don’t know!” Another few potshots hit the car, urging my driver to really put his foot down as we race through the city. It doesn’t matter where we go, but we’re clearly being chased, which means we just have to get away and keep going. My phone slips from my panicked fingers, streaked with blood and escaping as the car lurches. It hits the floor and I dive right after it, landing on one knee. The car swerves again, sending my phone right under the driver’s seat.

“Shit! Shit, shit—” I have to call someone. My father. More guards. Roman. Someone.Anyone.

The car swerves several more times, keeping my phone just out of reach, then the back window shatters with a loud crash. Glass hails down on me like falling stars while my driver screams in agony.

“I’ve been shot!” he screams. The car swerves erratically as I clamber back up. With barely time to think, I lunge across the car seat and grab the steering wheel just as my driver sags to the side and drags the wheel with him.

The last thing I see is the guard rail smashing from the force of the vehicle, and we tear off the edge of the road and plummet down an incline into darkness.

16

JASMINE

Everything hurts.

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