Page 24 of Dirty Little Vow

“I have to go,” she says. “And so do you. The meeting starts soon.”

She disconnects.

Chapter Twenty

Bella

Hanging up, my throat is cotton and my belly a bed of blades.

Oliver lifts the phone out of my hand oh so gently, his entire persona that of a gentleman and yet, twenty minutes ago he proved that premise to be nothing but a perfect lie. At present, we’re in the back of a black sedan with an angry-looking man with a smooshed face in the driver’s seat, but back then we were still at the bar, still sitting in that high back booth with drinks and dip in front of us. It had all seemed so very civil.

Then he’d slid a notecard in front of me and offered me a pen. I’d just stared at the pen. “Take it,” he’d ordered in a low voice that had crackled with authority.

I’d felt the strike of his sharpened energy, glanced up, and found his expression uncomfortably indiscernible but his eyes as chilly as an artic night.

At that moment, I’d decided this pen was meant to write my suicide note, and a goodbye to Tyler. I’d shaken my head. “No. No, I don’t think I feel up to taking dictation right now.”

“Take it,” he’d repeated and while his voice had not lifted, a brutal quality had etched in those two words, a bit how I believed a sword would flesh.

I’d taken the pen.

Approval had lit his dark eyes, but nothing about his mood had lightened. “Good,” he’d said, a patronizing quality to his voice that demoted me more to pet than person. “Very good. Now, write what I say.”

And so, I had.

When I was done, he’d said, “Feel free to add an I love you, or some sappy thing of sorts. Your preference. I don’t pretend to know the inner workings of your romantic dialogue.”

I’d seen that for what it was, what all of this is—a way to manipulate and control Tyler. I’d set the pen down and refused to participate beyond what was forced, but all that bravado faded the instant I’d heard Tyler’s voice.I just want to come home, you know?I’d let myself become a weapon against Tyler, and the satisfied look on Oliver’s face that hasn’t faded since tells me I’ve performed to his expectations, but maybe not as much as he thinks.

I’d spoken the wordsthey want you to go to the meeting, notI want you to go to the meeting,and gambled that Tyler knows me well enough to read between the lines. I do not want him to go to that meeting. I’m terrified he won’t live to see tomorrow if he does. Maybe I won’t either. Of course, there was the wholeI have to go and so do you. The meeting starts soon,but that had been scripted.Oliver had literally written it on a piece of paper and held it up for me to read.

The driver eyes us in the rear-view mirror and says, “It’s begun.”

It’s begun?I think. What does that mean? “What does that mean?” I ask. “What has begun?”

Oliver ignores me and speaks to the driver, “We’re done. We’re a go.”

With that, the driver pulls us out into traffic, and I twist around to face Oliver, plastered against the opposite seat as far from him as I can get. I’d wanted to run or scream but never had the chance.

He’d propped that note up on the table, typed a message in his phone, and then ordered, “Let’s go.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I’d said.

He’d leaned in close. “I have a man who is much less civil than I am, Bella, watching Tyler and your brother.” He’d held out his phone and showed me a time-stamped photo of the two of them and Gavin at the coffee shop.

I’d sucked in a breath and then demanded, “What is this?”

“You can relax,” he’d assured me. “We won’t hurt them, because frankly I love your brother’s books, and it would be a shame to see him leave without finishing at least one more. And we need Tyler’s cooperation.”

I could barely breathe at that point, but I’d managed to push out my question. “Then why show me that photo?”

“Gavin’s disposable. So is that pretty lady who owns the store. Come with me, help me get Tyler to the negotiation table, and everyone lives to eat another cupcake. They are really good cupcakes, worthy of life itself, don’t you think?” He’d stood up. “Shall we?”

I’d wanted to scream. I’d wanted to grab a knife and stab him, and I’ve never felt a violent urge in my life. Instead, I’d grabbed my purse and stood up, calmly walking to the sedan where I sit now, terrified this is the place I will say goodbye to everyone and everything, because this is where I will die.

Chapter Twenty-One

Bella

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