Page 121 of Oblivion

As I opened my mouth to shout demands again, the office door behind us opened without warning, and Ronan’s unyielding gripfinallydropped from my arm.

Brian, a man on my father’s political team, stuck his head in. “All good in here? Avery hurried out of the building earlier, and I just heard yelling.”

I fought to stop my voice from shaking while I dug through my handbag. “Everything’s fine, Brian. Wait there, though. You can walk me out.”

When I found the credit card linked to Paul’s account, I snatched scissors from his desk and cut it into strips with trembling hands. After tossing severed pieces and scissors on his desk, I rummaged in my bag again, this time for the keys to Mini Penny.

I bid my beautiful car a silent farewell, then launched the keys at his desk too. “And here, you can have these back. The pink matches your face.”

Shoving past Ronan—and ignoring Paul’s agitated growl and Brian’s baffled stare—I walked out of that office with my quivering chin held high.

Each footstep hit the ground with much more stability than I felt within.

Jobless.

Carless.

Penniless.

But free. Finallyfree.

CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE

Dante

After dropping Penny at home, I headed for the office with a heavy heart. I was exhausted from hardly sleeping last night. My head had been too filled with that girl and what it meant for us now the contract between her father and Cole Security was concluded.

While I’d succumbed to the lure of touching, tasting, and fucking her again, I didn’t regret any of it. This weekend, I intended to lock her—willingly—in my room and devour her until I’d had my temporary fill.

I cursed when my phone rang. I wasn’t even back in the office yet and was already getting calls while driving toward work.

The initial irritation turned into surprise, then dread as I accepted Jenny’s call on speaker-phone.

“Long time no hear, brother,” I answered cautiously, while slowing with the traffic flow.

“That’s what happens when you jump ship,” he quipped.

It was meant as a joke, but his voice was unusually tight.

I quietened and gripped the steering wheel. Apprehension formed a tight fist in the pit of my stomach.

“Chen, what’s going on? This doesn’t sound like a social call.”

“It’s not,” he bit back hoarsely. “It’s really fucking not. Shit, Lotus. I drew the short straw. None of the guys wanted to call you, so…”

“You could have gotten Forrest to call. He’s good at this sort of shit.”

The mediocre attempt at easing the tension fell short, and shivers wove down my spine when Chen inhaled a shaking breath.

“Jenny, you’re scaring me, brother. I’m driving. Do I need to pull over?”

“Yep.”

“Fuck,” I hissed, and made an evasive swerve across two lanes.

An invisible tourniquet squeezed my chest as I blindly pulled up in a loading zone. Calls like these never brought good news.

“I’ve pulled over.”

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