Page 82 of Jasper
“Don’t fight me, Tessa.” A smooth voice whispers into my ear. “I’m sick and tired of you fighting me at every turn.”
“Let me go. What are you doing here? I told you that I voided the contract.”
Mr. Whitmore doesn’t let me go, though. He grips me tightly and snorts a laugh, like this is all some kind of game. This man is going to get himself killed, and he doesn’t even realize it.
The room goes unnaturally quiet. Even Queenie stills. She just stands near the door, glaring at Whitmore.
No matter how I twist or turn, this horrible man won’t let me go. My heart is now beating wildly in my chest. I don’t let him see that I’m afraid. I have to stay strong and prove I can get through tough situations without freaking out.
When I glance back at him, he gives me a polite smile, like we’re best friends.
I can’t believe that it’s him. Whitmore showed up here. How did he know this was the day to slip in unnoticed? This is the man I was supposed to carry a child for. The one whose paperwork I signed before the mix-up at the lab. The one who’s been quiet until now, ever since Jasper ran him off from my house that day.
And now I’m somehow his hostage. His shield. I must not be the sharpest tool in the shed because I honestly can’t work out why he came here or what he wants.
But I know one thing with perfect, crystalline clarity. Footsteps are coming down the steps. I pray that it’s Jasper, coming to rescue me from this ignorant man.
The safe room door clicks. I freeze as the door handle turns. For a second, hope surges in my chest, and joy floods my system when Jasper steps through the doorway, looking battle-weary but lethal. He’s filthy and blood-slicked, his cut torn and hanging off one shoulder. Rock is close behind him. Both of them stop cold when they see Whitmore.
Jasper’s eyes land on me. On the pistol pressed to my neck and Whitmore’s arm cinched around my ribs. And something inside him goes still. There is no yelling. No rush to do something and perhaps accidentally provoke him into shooting me. His gaze locks with mine, and I feel the rage bubbling up inside him.
The man holding me sees it too.
“Well,” he says, with a smug little sniff, “I thought Marquez was going take you out and set up shop in whatever was left of your little building. But here you are, in the flesh.”
Whitmore’s voice is flat and stone-cold. Like everything is beneath him. Like this is just a boardroom or a negotiation that’s gone slightly off-script.
Jasper’s eyes shift from him to me and back again. I get the strong feeling, he’s thinking of a way to get at Whitmore before Whitmore can use the gun he’s holding against my neck.
“I thought you gave up your claim when the contract was voided,” Jasper says coldly. “But I guess consent’s just a technicality to guys like you.”
“Tessa doesn’t get to sign a contract and then void it,” he sneers. “There was no clause that allowed such a thing.” shifting the muzzle towards my belly. “I just want her to fulfill the contract she signed by carrying my child.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Jasper shoots back.
“Of course it is. It’s unfortunate you ended up contaminating the process with your seed, because now I’m forced to clean up the mess. Reset the timeline. Start over. You understand that, right?”
Jasper takes another step into the room. “No bro, I don’t understand. You’re talking about killing a very wanted child so you can reuse a woman’s body to carry your own child. That’s all kinds of fucked up. You’re a smart man, so you’ve gotta know that.”
“She agreed to carry my child.” Whitmore repeats, his fingers tighten on me, painfully. “She signed the papers. She belonged to me first. You can do whatever you want with her after I’m finished with her.”
“You fuckin’ think you own her, asshole? That she’s yours to force, to use and then give away to another man once you’re finished?” Jasper’s voice is dangerously soft. “She told you no. Why can’t you get that through your thick skull? You’re supposed to be a smart man, in your fancy suit and all.”
The man scoffs. “You’re barely civilized. Your whole operation smells like crime gone wild.”
“I’m about done talking about this. I’m starting to think maybe I need to talk to your wife about how obsessed you are with my old lady.”
“You’ll not do anything of the sort. She doesn’t need to know.” His mouth snaps shut when he realizes that he just admitted to being obsessed with me. When he speaks again, his voice is smooth and controlled again. If you were smart, you’d walk away from me right now.”
“Funny. I was about to say the same to you.” Jasper’s hands curl into fists at his sides. “The only difference is, I’m not askin’.”
The man lowers the barrel to my stomach. The shift is small, but it’s enough. Jasper sees it.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Jasper growls.
“I would,” he answers, calm as ice. “Because this is the child that never should have been. It’s a mistake, an error that I can easily fix.”
Something in Jasper’s eyes changes. A flicker of something deadly. His voice drops to a whisper.
