My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out, seeing a message from Brax.
Brax: I’m off early tonight. My brother took over. I’m headed to your place for the night. Halfway there.
“Whoever it is, don’t answer them,” Lucas says like he’s somehow the one in control.
“Fine,” I tell him, because I know once Brax gets here, all hell will break loose.
All I have to do is keep Lucas talking without him laying his hands on me. He doesn’t look quite like himself. His eyes are sunken in, and his clothes are disheveled. Gone is the businessman I fell in love with. It was all a façade to hide the ugly underneath.
He never physically hurt me before, but the man standing in front of me in no way resembles the person he was before.
Now, he is running for his life. And when someone’s back is against the wall, anything is possible.
I need to remain calm, something I’m not always good at, and keep him far enough away from me so that I don’t freeze up again.
Brax is coming. He’ll fix this. He’ll protect me.
“It’ll only be for a few days,” he says to me, pulling me back to the favor he somehow thinks I’ll be willing to grant him.
“No, Lucas. You’re not my problem anymore. You made sure of that a long time ago. You’re on your own.”
Lucas stumbles back into my favorite recliner and sits as he looks up at me with pleading eyes. When we were a couple, that look got him almost anything he asked for, but now…nope. “Do you want me to die?”
Oh. He’s tugging on the heartstrings, thinking I’m the same girl he asked to marry him. She died a long time ago and doesn’t care one bit about the hole Lucas dug himself into.
“Were you doing this shit when we were together?” I ask, remaining by the door.
“What shit?”
“Borrowing money from gangsters, Lucas. Don’t play stupid.”
He runs his hand through his hair, making the wild mane look a bit crazier. “No.” He exhales and hangs his head. “Maybe.”
I sigh, hating that I didn’t see all the signs back then. I could’ve saved myself a lot of heartache if I hadn’t been so blinded by my love for him.
“What the hell did you need two million dollars for?”
He lifts his head slowly, and there are tears in his eyes. Do I think they’re tears of remorse? Absolutely not. He’s worried about his life, but he had no problem coming here and putting mine in danger…again.
“I fucked up.”
“Well, duh. But how?”
“I lost all my client’s money and needed fast cash to make the problem disappear. I thought I could make it all back by shorting the market, but I was wrong.”
Wrong is an understatement.
What a dumbass plan.
“How did you lose their money?” I ask to keep him talking.
“Same way I lost the two million,” he whispers.
I roll my eyes. The man I once thought was so smart is really as dumb as a box of rocks. That’s what my dad would say about him if he heard this stupidity.
“Give me until tomorrow at least,” he continues tobeg. “I need one good night’s sleep, and then I’ll be gone forever. Your new boyfriend doesn’t even have to know I was ever here.”
He’s about to get a rude awakening when Brax shows up. Hopefully traffic isn’t bad or there isn’t an accident on the Kennedy. “Only one night?”
