Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
I shook my head in disgust. They’d seen her last month, seen how much weight she’d lost, that she’d quit a job she loved, and they didn’t think anything was off about that?
“When Nick didn’t tell me that you got attacked … I tried to leave again. And when he hit me, I fought back. He had to go into work with scratches down his face.” London curled her lip. “It felt good. I felt like me again for a second. And I thought, I can do it. I could leave him. Even if I had to really hurt him to leave, it would be better than this hell I was currently living. He wanted me to hang around the apartment, meet up with his colleagues and clients’ wives and girlfriends for shopping and lunch. Our parents didn’t even force cotillion on us, Nee, but he wanted me to be the perfect New York socialite. I didn’t know if I was more terrified or more bored out of my fucking mind.”
The fire in her voice gave me hope because it belonged to the London I knew and loved.
“I was going to leave.” She nodded. Then desolation crushed her features. “But then he told me that he was the reason Halston had you stabbed.”
I gaped. “What?”
Guilt tightened her features. “He tapped my phone. Every conversation you and I had got back to him. And he threatened Halston to back off me but also told him that you weren’t going to stop because of the threats. So I’m the reason you got attacked.”
“No!” I shot out of my chair to pull her into my arms. “You are not the reason.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Please.” I smoothed her hair back. “Please don’t apologize.” Cupping her face gently between my palms, I took in her black eye and vowed, “We’re getting you away from him.”
“When I got your voicemail last night … something in me snapped. We got into a huge fight”—she gestured to her eye—“he warned me not to leave the apartment today. But I can’t stay. I’m afraid if I stay, I’m going to kill him or he’s going to kill me.”
“That’s not going to happen. We are going back to Scotland. And if you want to, you can work at the B and B with me.”
For the first time, I saw hope in London’s eyes. “I want to get away, to come with you, but … I don’t have my passport. He locked it in his safe along with all my credit cards, my driver’s license, and my old phone. He doesn’t know about the new one. I asked Cynthia to get it for me. I still owe her money for it.”
It made my stomach churn that she’d been forced to ask her friend to buy her another phone. I wondered if Cynthia had kept that from Laurent, considering Laurent’s blasé attitude. Maybe not all of London’s friends had abandoned her after all.
The fact that the asshole had locked her passport and driver’s license in a safe … How much I wanted to hurt Nick was on par with how much I wanted Halston Cole to suffer for eternity.
The passport issue was certainly a problem, but one I was determined wouldn’t stop us. “Let me figure out a plan. Tonight, you stay with me. Does he know I’m here?”
“No.”
Something occurred to me. “Hugh might tell him. I bumped into that prick today.” I worried my lip. “Okay, we’re safe at the hotel for at least a night, but if we haven’t figured things out by tomorrow, we’ll move hotels.”
“I’m sorry I’m putting you through this when you’ve been through so much already.”
“You’re not putting me through anything. I love you. We protect each other. We always have.”
Her lips trembled. “I love you too.”
A few minutes later, at London’s request, I called down to see if the adjoining room was available. I understood she needed some alone time to decompress, but I worried about her, even with only a wall between us. However, for the past six months, everything she wanted had been taken from her through threats and violence, and I wouldn’t take even the slightest thing from her merely because I needed her close.
Thankfully, the room was available, and I hurried down to the lobby to collect the key card and the key for the adjoining door.
After London disappeared inside her room to shower, I sat on the edge of the bed and tried to figure out how the hell we could get into Nick’s safe.
When the knock sounded on my hotel room door, my pulse instantly raced. Fear made my knees shake as I crossed the room on tiptoes to peer into the peephole. All I saw was darkness, and I realized a body was covering it.
The darkness disappeared as the person stepped away from the door, frowning at it.