Page 48 of Runaway Girl
Then, I flipped my attention to Audrey.
“Andyou. You’ve breached your restraining order, which is a criminal offence. But I’ll give you this choice as one last gift to the person that birthed me… You can pick between prison or a mental hospital ’cause we all know you’re fucking crazy!”
Audrey began screaming like a harpy while Jake held her back.
Then, the door opened, and a random woman casually walked in as if the whole scenario was normal.
“What took you so long?” Jake snapped.
“This place is a damn maze. Take them,” she said, handing over an ominous manila folder.
At that, all three pitched their attention to me. That’s when I got a clear view of the newcomer, recognition sinking deep as I clocked her origin. She was the influencer in the bar who recorded and released the viral video, Katy.
“What now?” I grumbled, taking them in.
“Baby boy, after all these years, you still haven’t learned.”
“And what life lesson do you have for me now,Mother? Pray tell.”
“To love is a weakness—one that can be exploited and used against you.”
Why did her words feel like a damning fortune? Like she was the executioner ready to drop the axe on my neck.
That’s when realisation whipped through me, frigidly cold and blistering as my faculties shut down one by one. During the turbulent commotion, I had forgotten the reason I agreed to enter the room to begin with, Jake’s initial remarks slipping my mind.
The repercussions monumental and irrevocably catastrophic.
“What have you done?”I whispered to the three harbingers ready to deal out my fate.
“What is necessary,” Audrey said. “You will comply with our conditions, Ethan.”
“Or what?”
“Or we will ruin Alicia Thorne… Your Runaway Girl.”
Chapter 28
ETHAN
I barked a cocky laugh, concealing the panic creeping up my throat.
Put on a show, Ethan. The best fucking performance you’ve ever done in your life.
“Now, let me get this straight,” I said with false bravado. “Poor pathetic Jake here wants my position. Mother dearest is getting paid for the trouble of causing mayhem. But what’s in it for you?” I asked the influencer, her expression faltering beneath my evil-eyed scrutinisation.
I clucked. “Ahh, a typical clout chaser, am I right? You know, you don’t have to sleep with him to become something. He can’t even make first-string without the use of blackmail.”
I winked as her face drained of colour.
“And now what?” I asked, raising my arms wide to address my audience. “You think I’m just gonna step aside while you rip the flesh from my bones? Just because you know who my girl is?Think a-fucking-gain.”
I moved to push past them when Jake slapped the manila folder on the lone desk, pictures scattering over the surface with technicoloured finesse.
My step faltered—her beautiful face shining up at me like a pleading promise.
Photo after photo was discarded on the hard surface, each dropping like a loaded grenade, ready to detonate my heart.
Alicia straddling my lap in the front seat of my car...Taken the night I found her crying outside her work building.
