I grip my phone tighter. My heart is pounding.
“Andy, stop the car!”
He chuckles. “Sure thing, prin?esa.” (princess)
The brakes screech. The cab jerks violently, and I slam into the front seat. Pain shoots through my shoulder.
Before I can react, he is out of the driver’s seat. I scramble for my door, fumbling like a fool.
He rips my door open.
“Get out,” he growls.
I don’t have a choice. He drags me out by the arm, throws me down. My knees scrape against gravel, the sharp sting jolting me.
City lights shimmer in the far distance. Everything here is shadows and silence. Just a single, flickering lamp near an old fence.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” I shout, scrambling back.
He stares down at me, shadows dancing across his face. There’s something unhinged in his eyes—something broken beyond repair.
“It’s time to pay,” he says coldly. “For all of it.”
“I don’t understand—”
“Dorian threw me out like garbage. Sent me home. No second chance. Just gone.”
I freeze. My stomach turns.
He had been fired.
“I didn’t know,” I say quickly, breath hitching. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“You’re his,” he sneers. “So, hurting you is the next best thing.”
I try to stand, but he lunges.
The first kick lands hard in my ribs.
Then another. And another.
Each one steals my breath, a burst of white-hot pain erupting inside me. I collapse onto the gravel, gasping, choking on sobs. My arms instinctively wrap around my torso, but it’s no use. I curl in on myself, a futile attempt to hide from the blows.
I roll to my side, gasping, “No—no, please, don’t—”
The pain is everywhere. Burning. Crushing. I can feel something crack inside.
But it’s not enough for him.
He grabs me by the hair and yanks me upright. I scream—my throat raw, the sound barely human.
“Dorian thought he was better than the rest of us. Untouchable,” he snarls. “But now I’ll have what he had. I’ll take what he loves.”
I twist free and try to run, sneakers slipping on the gravel. My ankle rolls. I fall forward—palms skinned, knees slamming into the ground. The sting is instant, sharp.
I try to crawl, gasping, dragging myself forward on shaking limbs.
But he’s faster.
