My blood turned to ice.
"Derek," I breathed.
12
Tori
* * *
Derek smiled.
Not the confident smile I remembered from boardrooms and charity galas. This one was tight. Desperate. His eyes looked wild. Like he hadn’t slept in days.
Or he was on cocaine. He’d snorted a lot of money up his nose our freshman year of college. I knew that look.
"Hello, Tori."
I tried to step back.
He moved with me instantly, adjusting like it was part of the dance. His hand slid around my arm, fingers digging into my skin hard enough to hurt.
"Dance with me.” His voice was low. Too intimate. Terrifying. "One dance. For old times' sake."
"Let go of me." I tried to pull away, look around for Egon. Egon was on the other side of the room. Dancing with Jessica. Shit.
Derek’s grip tightened painfully. “Look at me.”
I turned to face the man I’d once believed was my friend. "Why won't your lawyers answer their phones? Or return a call?" I snapped.
"Just listen to me." He leaned close, his breath hot against my ear. "We don't need lawyers. I've been trying to reach you. Sending flowers. Leaving messages. But you won't talk to me. You won't even look at me."
"Because I'm done with you, Derek." Anger surged through me now, pushing the fear aside. "You sent thugs to beat us up," I continued, my voice sharp. "They pulled a knife on us. One of them had a gun."
His fingers tightened again. “I just need you to listen.”
"Let me go."
"I can't." His voice cracked suddenly. “I need you. You’re my wife.” The words burst out of him, raw and frantic.
"Come back to me. We can fix this. We can?—"
"Get your hands off her."
The voice behind me was not human. It rolled through the ballroom like distant thunder, deep and dangerous. Conversations stopped. Music faltered.
I felt the shift in the air before I even turned.
Something primal had awakened.
"Egon," I whispered under my breath.
Slowly, I looked over my shoulder.
He was no longer dancing with Jessica. He stood frozen in the center of the dance floor, every muscle in his massive body locked tight.
And his eyes?—
Oh God.
