Page 109 of Shark’s Pride

Sebastian

It was nearing lunchtime as I looked out over the city, taking in my empire. I’d been up since three forty-three a.m., when Abbi’s truck had roared away from my house.

I snorted aloud at the idea of her thinking she had sneaked out on me. If Abbigail was going to skip out on me before daybreak, she’d better reconsider that monster truck she drove.

My cell phone chirped with an incoming text, and I eagerly dug it out, hoping it was Abbigail. But when I unlocked the screen, I was confronted by a text from an unknown number—with a really grainy photo attached.

“What the hell?” What was I even looking at? Maybe the text would help clarify.

It’s not like you to be this careless.

I swiped back to the picture, and my blood ran cold. My darkest fears were coming to pass in the palm of my hand.

The image was of Abbi. She was unlocking the front door of her Inglewood prep kitchen. It was dark, though the slightest hint of dawn tinged the sky behind her. Still, the industrial park was all but abandoned at the early hour she had gone in to start the day.

My phone chirped twice. Two more pictures, both of Abbigail, taken on different days in different places. Places I instantly recognized.

In one, she was out jogging in our neighborhood—beyond the security gates and guard shack that should have been protecting her from this sick fuck. In the second—one that truly turned my blood to ice—she was in a utilitarian bathroom, in nothing but her bra and panties, getting ready to slip into the lavender dress I’d helped her pick out for the Edge’s groundbreaker.

This was the moment everything changed. The moment I decided to change everything.

For the first time in my life, my heart was going to break because of a woman.

But there was no other way. I wouldn’t risk her life in exchange for mine.

“Bas?” Her quiet query hauled me back to the present. I hadn’t even heard her enter my office.

I swallowed hard. Gave my spine a direct command to stay upright. “Yeah, baby?”

“I…I just… Are you still mad?” She shifted her weight, using the cart as leverage. “I’m so sorry.”

“No.”

“No?” Understandably, she was more confused.

“Don’t apologize. I don’t want to hear you say you’re sorry.”

“You…you don’t?”

Good God. Her wide, glowing green stare would be my undoing. I had to close my eyes to the magic of it.

“Why is that so hard to believe?” I forced my gaze open and funneled its most authoritative force on her. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I…what?” she stammered. “But I—”

I cut her off with a stern look. “Did you hear what I just said, Red?”

“Yes…”

“No.” I slowly shook my head. “You heard me, but you weren’t listening.”

“Excuse me?”

“Now you’re listening. Come here.”

She stared at me for a few moments. Then glared. Clearly she had been examining our tiff from yesterday at every angle. But her body yearned to heed my demand, judging by the flush creeping across her chest and up her neck.

I had to capitalize on that.