Page 79 of Healing the Heart

“If you don’t agree to my terms, by the moment this clock hits zero, that file will be loaded on porn sites, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and every social platform you can think of will have your disgusting tape on it. All you have to do is agree to my terms, and I won’t leak it.”

“That doesn’t mean you’ll never leak it,” I said through grit teeth.

“Seventy-five seconds,” he said, brushing off my concerns.

“How do you look yourself in the mirror?” I asked.

“Quite easily, with a cup of coffee in hand,” he replied. “Fifty-three seconds.”

“You’re a bastard,” I said while fear coiled an icy grip around my heart.

“Nothing I haven’t heard before.” He smirked. “Oh, look at that, twenty-seven.”

“Shut it off,” I said.

“No. Eighteen.”

Fear nearly crumpled me in half. “Stop it.”

“Agree to my terms, Nine…”

Panic erupted in my belly, sending my thoughts scattering to every corner of the room. When the clock hit three, I shouted, “Fine!Fine! I’ll do it. Shut itoff.”

He jabbed the clock and leaned into his phone, “You heard that…good?”

I sat, trembling while the sickening feeling that I just made a deal with the devil sunk into my veins. West stood as easy as he pleased, gathered his things, and headed to the door. I managed to get on my feet and followed him to the door.

“One more thing,” I stopped him as he turned. I reared back and delivered a blistering punch into his jaw. West’s head snapped to the side, and I hoped I’d broken something to mar his pretty face. “Get out of my sight.”

He rolled his neck and thumbed a thin line of blood draining from his busted lip. “Why, you’re as savage as Maxwell is. Why had I expected any different?”

With that, he walked away, and I slammed the door behind him; my stomach upended, and my heart shattered. With my back on the door, I slowly sank to the floor and grabbed my face with both hands. I didn’t know if West had surveillance on my house, but I scrambled up and grabbed my phone. If anything, this would be the last contact we had.

I called John, hunkering down and away from any windows.

The ringtone sounded like a death knell in my ears, and I prayed he would pick up. I had to tell him about what West had done. If only I’d been smart enough to record him; shit.

When John finally picked it up, there was wind in the background. “John, I need to tell you something important.”

“Can you tell me later,” he said. “I’ve got to get back to the ranch. There’s a crisis there.”

So, he knew, “It's—” I couldn’t get a word out because of some sudden static. “—It’s West, John. West set you up. He—” another screech. “—he told me he ruined you.”

I didn’t know if he heard me or not, but then, a rush of wind, John’s yell, the screech of tires, and a thin thud. The phone had landed somewhere—then went silent.

“John? John! Are you there? Tell me!” but no word came, and fear paralyzed me again. Could I break my promise and see John and risk that nasty video getting out?

I slumped near the bottom of the couch and stared at my phone, crippled.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

John

Ihated it when deer ran into the road.

It’d caused me to drop the phone and slam on the brakes just to stop a foot from the damned thing. Its huge eyes glinted amber in the headlights before it jumped away. Cursing under my breath, I got the truck going again and started off to the ranch, my foot heavy on the gas.

Micah had called me while I was packing up at the fair, telling me that someone had broken in again, but there was something to show for it this time. I’d told him to call the detective, then booked it out, leaving the rest of the cleanup to Ben and his guys.

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