Page 17 of Ruthless Protector

I didn’t answer, just kept walking. I’d never been here before, never even wanted to think about this place.I never wanted to even think about him.Elevators. Just get to the elevator.

My knees trembled, but I clenched my jaw and forced myself to move. The double glass doors opened behind me and the thud of heavy steps followed.

“Is there anything I can assist you with today?” the receptionist repeated to the new arrival.

I just kept walking, my focus divided between the gun in my clutch and the howls of desperation ringing in my head. I was leaving today, climbing on our private jet and flying to Mauritius. There, the Commission would send a luxury cruiser to ferry me, and the others, to a small island far enough from the mainland to forget the rest of the world existed. Maybe there I could forget…forget this city…forget this man.

I stopped at the bank of elevators, pressed the button, and glanced behind me. I caught the blur of a painting high up on the opposite wall. My heart lunged at the sight, driving like a fist into the back of my throat. A portrait…of Haelstrom Hale.

He stood tall, powerful, his dark eyes glinting with possessiveness. A shiver coursed through my body. But it wasn’t a tremor of fear…it was rage.I tightened my grip around my clutch, aching to feel the cold bite of the steel. In my head, I pulled the weapon free…and emptied the clip into the painting in front of me.

I wanted to hurt.

I wanted to kill.

I wanted to be free.

“Ma’am?”

I flinched as the voice intruded and jerked my gaze toward the male dressed in black as he held the elevator doors open. “Are you coming?”

Do it…do it…do it…

My stomach clenched tight, driving the bitter tang of acid into the back of my mouth. I’d never be free. Not from Haelstrom Hale, or fromthe men in the white masks…

“Ummm,” the guy murmured, glancing from me to the sound of the receptionists in the foyer. “Are you okay?”

I stumbled backwards as terror rose inside me. The gun. The man.The truth.They raged inside me, howling for vengeance. The walls tilted as I spun. My heels clattered against the marble floor as I headed for the foyer, then stopped as I saw Richard.

My stomach rolled and I swallowed a heave. I couldn’t let him see me like this, couldn’t get back in that car…not yet. I looked at a group headed for the double doors of Hale Building, steaming coffee cups and brown paper bags in their hands. Richard glanced toward them, then turned, surveying the traffic.Now…move, now.

I rushed toward the doors as they opened and slipped around the group, then turned left. Head down…hurrying. I swallowed, and swallowed andswallowed,forcing the acid back down. Just hold on…hold on. Salvation lay in a darkened alleyway a little further ahead. I stepped into the blinding sun, looked left, then right, and hurried across the side street, to the alley smothered in darkness.

The roar of the traffic filled my head as cars swept past.Don’t look at me. Don’t look at me. Don’t…

I lunged into the shadows and hurried toward the end. I didn’t care if it was filthy. Didn’t care about the sprouting green moss between the bricks, or the choking, rotting stench. How could I when there was rot inside me?

Foul.

Diseased.

Inescapable.

But I had to escape. I had to get away from them. I have to get away…

I shoved my hand out and braced against the bricks as hot acid shot from my mouth and splashed against the ground. I didn’t think I had anything left, nothing but acid and rage. It seemed like that was a bottomless well inside me.

More came shooting from my mouth and puddled in the cracked asphalt. I gripped my clutch and heaved until there was nothing left but air. Still my stomach rolled, twisting and turning. “No more,” I pleaded, and closed my eyes. “No more.”

The foul air tasted almost sweet. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and grimaced. The sound of the traffic invaded, drawing my focus to the bright sunlight at the entrance of the alley…and the dark gray sedan parked across the opening.

My pulse sped at the sight, even before I made the connection.

Dark-tinted windows gave me little to go on.

A shadow sat behind the wheel.

But I was sure I’d seen that car before.

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