She flinched. Since Lock had introduced them? The framed photo in the bedroom flicked into her mind. “I saw the photo of you and that woman beside the bed. Who is she?”
Darkness flashed across his face before he shook his head. “She doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re here now, and you’re mine.”
She wasn’t his. She’dneverbe his.
The urge to scream at this insane man consumed her. But she had to be smart, not angry. “You can’t just take someone and assume they’ll become yours.”
“You’re not justsomeone. You’re the woman I love.” He went back to doing the dishes, like their conversation was completely rational. “When you disappeared, I thought I’d lost you forever. It killed me. But I bided my time, because I knew I’d find you eventually. Then, two years later, Lock tells me you’re back in Misty Peak, and I knew then that nothing and no one would stop me from having you.”
“But I don’t love you.”
He paused, glancing over his shoulder, the thick muscles in his biceps contracting and almost making her want to take back her words.
His jaw clenched, and he returned to the dishes. “I was hoping that while I stayed with Lock, you’d realize how strong our connection was and start to love me back. I killed for you. That’s something Lock wouldneverdo.”
Yeah, because Lock wasn’t insane.
“It was only last night, after a few drinks at the bar, that I started feeling…frustrated. I started thinking maybe you’d never come to me…and I acted rashly. I was an idiot, I admit. I tried to take you with little to no plan. It was fucking stupid, and I knew the moment I did it that it was a mistake. I didn’t even set the damn car bomb properly.”
She stumbled back a step. “Car bomb?”
“It was supposed to kill Lock. It didn’t. The asshole’s been blowing up my phone with texts and calls.”
The air rushed out of her chest, making her knees weak.
He was alive… Lock was alive.
Antwan’s eyes narrowed on her. “But I’m going to try again, and this time, there’ll be no mistakes.”
“Don’t.” The word came so quickly that Antwan’s narrowed eyes darkened. “I mean, you don’t need to do that, now that you have me.”
“He’ll look for you. He’ll scour every inch of the fucking earth to find you. He needs to be eliminated, something I put off for far too long because I let my emotions get in the way.”
Her mind worked fast, protecting Lock all she could think about. “I’ll end things with him.”
“What?”
“I’ll call him and tell him I want to be with you, not him. I’ll make him believe me.”
He turned, frowning. Was he thinking about it?
Say yes. You don’t need to hurt Lock.
She forced her feet to move. To cross the distance between them and touch her hands to his chest. “Please. Let me do this.”
Antwan’s eyes shifted between hers, and when his hands went to her hips, she barely stopped herself from pulling away.
“I’ve loved you for so long, Callie.” His head lowered, and when his breath brushed her neck, she bit her bottom lip hard to stop from cringing. “I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wantedyou. When I couldn’t find you for those two years, I tried to forget you. But I couldn’t. And when Lock said you were back…I knew I couldn’t let you disappear a second time.”
She frowned, something pricking at her mind. “But you were with Hollie when the notes started.”
“She saw one of the notes I sent you.”
Ice slid over her skin. “And what did you do when she saw the note?”
“She was going to tell you. She was going to turn you against me. We fought and I…I lost control.”
“You killed her.” Callie hissed out the words.
