Page 190 of Their Arrangement
He picked up on the third ring.
“Tell me you didn’t do something stupid.”
“I need you to stay with her.”
A pause.
“You’re not asking Barron?”
“No.”
“Good. He’d never let you live it down.”
“I know.”
“Alright. I’m on my way. Don’t burn the city down before I get there.”
I didn’t answer. Didn’t need to. He heard it in my silence. In the crackling fury barely held beneath my voice. The room was dark. Royal had arrived—quiet, sharp-eyed, a bottle of wine in one hand and a gun in the other.
He said nothing when I let him in. Didn’t comment on the bruise on her cheek or the chain still tangled in her collarbone. He just looked at me. Then nodded once. And took a seat beside the bed like a man ready to kill anyone who got too close.
I left them there. Walked into my office. Closed the door. Turned on the feed. The screen flared to life. Playback. Angle two. Her hallway.
I fast-forwarded. Reversed. Watched the frame-by-frame shift in light.
There.
A figure.
Dark. Hooded. Masked.
Moving past the elevator. Toward her door.
He shouldn’t have been there. She shouldn’t have been home. But she was. And he knew it. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t knock. He just entered.
And then?—
Her.
Frozen on the screen. Caught mid-step. The moment before fear takes over. Before instinct replaces thought. She turned. Said something. No sound.
The man lunged.
I saw her fall. Felt it like a gunshot to the chest. Her body hit the floor. Arms up. Knees in. Trying to protect herself with the same hands that had once held me like I was safe.
I stopped the feed. Just stared at that frame. Her body, curled and still.
My fault.Every inch of it. Every bruise. Every breath she didn’t take right after.
I stood so fast my chair slammed backward into the wall. I didn’t notice. Didn’t care. I grabbed my coat.My keys.
The rage came quiet this time. Not a scream. Not a roar. But a calm,brutalhum.
I got in the Audi. Turned the engine over once. Then slammed the gas. The tires shrieked across the concrete. I didn’t slow. Didn’t check the mirrors. Didn’t blink. Every second she was hurt pulsed like a countdown in my chest.
I ran the first red light. Didn’t care. A car honked—sharp and useless.
I swerved around it, tires burning rubber. The scent of smoke filled the cabin. Another light.
