Treachery

Which would explain why Clayton keeps showing up in places he’s not invited. None of this is news to me though.

“And?” I ask, rushing her along. It’s not that I’m worried about that ass weasel. It’s more that I have other issues to take care of, and Melody’s wasting my time.

“And I’m pretty sure Clayton tried to have Luca run down in a parking lot...”

My laptop clatters against the floor when it slips out of my hand.

“...and I think he’s going to keep trying to hurt her because he needs to shut up his dad. Plus, he doesn’t want to lose all that money, and he’s also trying to rush the marriage with me. This is my fault, kind of, for refusing to sleep with him again. It’s driving him nuts.”

My teeth are grinding again, a sharp jolt of pain ru

“Ta

I hang up and immediately dial Luca’s number. She answers on the second ring, music playing in the background and laughter in her voice.

“Really, Ta

“Come back home.”

She pauses for a second, then laughs. “Did you just call your house my home?”

I hear Ava’s voice beside her but can’t make out what she said. Blood is rushing in my head like rolling thunder, my pulse a jackhammer and my muscles locked with panic.

“Luca, come home. Now.”

“We’ve been through this. You’re not ordering me around.”

Ava talks again, but I can hear her this time. “Why is that guy riding my ass?”

“Luca, I need you to turn around and get back to the house now.”

“Did he just tap my bumper?” Ava sounds angry, and Luca doesn’t answer me.

“Luca, listen to me,” I yell. “Clayton is trying to kill-“

A loud crunch of metal grates against my ear, followed by high pitched screaming and shattering glass. A car horn blares without ending, and I scream into the phone again.

“Luca! Answer me!”

Nothing, except the constant noise of the car horn and an engine revving loudly as it races past.

Holding the phone to my ear, I grab my keys from my bag and race downstairs.

“Gabriel?” I roar.

He comes around the corner from the living room, and our eyes lock. “Did the girls say where they were going for lunch?”

I’m practically ru

“They said they were going downtown. Why? What’s the problem?”

“Someone just ran them off the road,” I snap, so much rage inside me now that I’m seeing red.

“Fuck,” Gabriel curses under his breath.

I jump in the driver’s seat of my car, and he’s barely in his seat when my foot slams on the gas and we speed forward.

They better not be dead, I think.

And they better not be hurt.

But the only thing I hear on the other end of the line is a car horn that hasn’t stopped blaring.

Clayton just signed his own fucking death warrant.

The amount of pain I inflict to destroy him will depend entirely on how much damage he caused Luca.