Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
When I got to within a foot of him, he grabbed me by the throat, his hand cruel and unforgiving.
My mouth gaped open with the surprise, and a slosh of terror slithered down my spine.
This was different.
So different than I’d ever seen him before.
“Let me go, Karl, I’m not joking.” I hated that the pressure slurred my voice. “You’re not going to back me into a corner, and I’m not going to change my mind or conform to your will. In case you didn’t notice, I don’t give a shit what you say anymore.”
“Do you have any idea how much money I’ve spent on your worthless brother? He’d be dead if it weren’t for me.”
“And I’m grateful for that.” It was true. That money had mattered, even though it’d come from this jerk. “But you tainted it, and that’s on you.”
He squeezed tighter, and I did my best not to panic, but there was a fury in his eyes that I’d never seen before.
And my breaths, they were wheezing, my throat constricting to the point of pain.
My mind spun with a swirl of dizziness, and my fingers itched with the regret that I hadn’t tapped out an SOS to Milo.
I had little choice then.
Fight or flight.
I decided on the first.
I dropped the bag to the floor, and the sudden movement caught Karl off guard. Before he recognized my intention, I reached up, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shoved my knee between his legs.
Hard.
I found a sick satisfaction in the crunch.
Roaring, his hand slipped from my throat, and he stumbled back as he bent in two.
There was no time to relish in it because he straightened before I had the chance to grab my things and run.
He took a menacing step forward, and I took one back. Another, then another. The backs of my thighs hit the edge of the desk. “Leave me alone, Karl, I’m warning you.”
Condescending laughter rolled from him. “You’re warning me? I think you have this situation completely twisted around. I own you, Tessa. Bought and paid for.”
“You bastard,” I seethed. “It wasn’t like that, and you know it.”
“Wasn’t it?”
He kept coming, and he reached out to grab me by the arm.
I wasn’t about to let it happen.
I’d go psycho on his ass before he ever touched me again.
I slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me.”
“You don’t get to make that choice.”
When he moved for me, I went feral.
Clawing and hitting and kicking.
Nails scraping as shouts ripped up my throat.
I was only half-shocked when I got in a good hit. My fist connected with his mouth, and his lip split open.
Blood dribbled from the wound.
It only made him angrier.
“You bitch,” he hissed.
He shoved me hard, setting me off balance, and I gasped when he had me by a wrist, then the other. He bent my arms back and pinned me to the top of his desk.
I flailed and tore and struggled to break free.
“It appears you need a reminder of your position. I spent fifteen-thousand-fucking-dollars a month to pay for your pathetic brother. This is the least you can do.”
He shifted both my wrists to one hand, the asshole trying to work his other hand between us like he was going to shove off my pants.
It created a gap between us when he did.
I took the chance.
This time, my knee hit him in the stomach when I drew it up fast. The impact knocked him off to the side, and I shot up to run, but then froze with the storm of violence that suddenly descended on the room.
Held in the dark malice that rained.
“What the fuck are you doing in my house?” Karl snarled.
“This.”
I couldn’t decipher if it was in fast or slow motion, the way Milo moved before he had Karl by the shirt, dragging him up and toward him. He cocked his giant arm back at the same time.
He delivered a punch to Karl’s nose.
One hit.
One blow.
Karl was facedown on the floor when Milo let his shirt go.
Shock hurtled from my lungs in rasping juts, and Milo glared down at him, too freaking calm for how Karl was bleeding out on the white carpet.
“Is he dead?” I whispered in abject horror.
“Unfortunately, no,” was all he said, his jaw clenched so tight I thought his teeth would shatter.
“Are you injured?” he finally grated.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
My nod was shaky. “Yeah.”
“Then let’s get the hell out of here.”
I nodded again, still trying to process what had happened, my attention on Karl, who wasn’t moving, as I slipped off the desk. I stared at him for a second before I rushed to grab the bag from the floor.
A frenzy lit, and I tossed the strap over my shoulder before I ran back into the master bedroom and into the closet.
I dropped to my knees, frantic, barely able to get my hands to cooperate as I tried to get the suitcase zipped shut. Milo was suddenly there, kneeling in front of me, taking my hands and setting them in my lap.