Page 37 of Bought

“She’s no threat,” Ethan says. “She’s a silly, spoiled little girl.”

“Don’t underestimate women,” Jack growls back. “Women are way more fucked up than men are. You’ll never know if she means what she says. You’ll never be able to trust her. Ever. Whether it’s today, or tomorrow, or in ten years, she’ll fuck you over.”

There’s so much angst and anger in Jack’s voice. More than that. There’s rage. A kind of rage I know I didn’t spark.

“This isn’t about Casey,” Ethan says, taking another step forward. “And you know it. So put the damn gun down already and let her go. We can talk about this.”

“I try to kill your little fuck doll and you want to talk? Don’t lie to me. You want me dead.”

“I want both of you alive, you asshole,” Ethan snaps.

“Really?” Jack’s question echoes my own sentiment.

“Yes, really, now let her go, goddammit!”

“Why? She doesn’t love you!”

“I love her,” Ethan says, his voice holding a note of truth that makes me want to weep.

“It doesn’t matter. I loved Emma. And Emma still wanted me dead.”

I can feel Jack’s body pressed hard against mine. He’s trembling all over like a nervous Chihuahua. This is not a man who wants to kill in cold blood. This is a man living in two places at once.

“Emma was one woman,” Ethan says. “Not all women. They’re not all the same. You know that.”

“I loved her.”

The emotion in Jack’s voice would break my heart if it wasn’t hammering a million miles a minute. It’s the broken sound of a man who let himself love once, and was betrayed so completely he’s lost all faith in the concept.

“I hurt her,” he sobs against my ear. “I hurt her so badly in the end.”

Chills flash down my spine. Did he kill her?

“It was self-defense,” Ethan says. “She tried to come at you with a knife, Jack.”

“She was just a woman. I should have…” Jack sobs against me, one arm wrapped around my waist as he holds me like a teddy bear, comforting himself with my terrified form.

“It’s hard to love someone and hate them at the same time.” I hear myself start to talk. “It’s hard to want them to want you, and be afraid that they’ll never really want you, even if they say they do. Because you know they have to be with you to stay in control of you.”

“Jesus,” Ethan curses under his breath. “That is not me and you, Casey. Emma was a Chinese agent. She seduced Jack. When she found out he was on to her, she was prepared to kill him rather than let him stop her.”

“I know it’s not me and you. But I thought it was, in the beginning. You did all those things to me and you didn’t even know me. I thought I was just a thing to you. I thought…”

It’s hard to have a moment when you’re being held hostage by a sobbing billionaire, but somehow we’re connecting more than ever. Jack has forced full admissions of our real feelings.

“I love you, Ethan,” I say as tears well in my eyes. “Even if this goes wrong. I love you.”

Jack takes a deep sobbing breath, pulls his arms away from me, and pushes me. Hard.

Toward Ethan.

Ethan rushes forward and grabs me so tight, holding me to his chest as if I’m the most precious thing in the world. “Are you alright?” He murmurs the question in my ear.

He means physically, I guess. I nod.

“I’ve got you,” he says. “I’ve got you and I’m not letting go. I…”

“Put the fucking gun down!”

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