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“No!” I scream as soon as he uncovers my mouth. He lets out a grunt as I continue jerking against his hold. Pain explodes in my chest and my vision blurs as we fall to the ground. He pins me to the concrete with one hand around each of my wrists and my chest feels tight. “Help!”

“Shh,” he whispers, leaning down over me and taking a deep breath. “Mm, you smell so good.”

I buck my hips, trying to throw him off me. “Help!”

He shoves my dress up to my belly and a sob tears through me as I thrash and kick, my stomach rolling. No, this can’t be happening to me right now. As I stare up into his dull blue eyes, and the vacant expression on his face, a wave of icy coldness hits me right in my chest.

“Please don’t do this,” I beg, tears flowing freely down my cheeks. He smiles.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make it good for you.”

He moves my hands together and uses one hand to press them back against the concrete as he reaches behind him and pulls out a pocket knife. My stomach drops and my chest feels heavy as my pleas turns to sobs and I jerk against his hold. His gaze falls to my panties and the cold feeling that started in my chest is seeping into the rest of my body. I shake my head back and forth, silently begging for help. When he slices through one side of my panties with the knife, I sob again and my body stills as he slices the other side. He meets my eyes and smiles as he pulls the panties away from my body. His hand starts creeping down my stomach and I gag.

“No!” I scream, jerking forward in bed. Gasping for air, I grip the blanket as tears pour down my cheeks and images from that night continue playing in my mind.

“Breathe, Quinn. Just breathe,” I whisper to myself, focusing on each breath I draw into my lungs as my heart rate slowly returns to normal. Once my breathing returns to normal, I fall back to the pillow and release a breath, tears welling up in my eyes. It’s been three days since I told Lucas the truth and I haven’t heard from him once since. Not that I can blame him. I knew as soon as I found out who Clay was that we were in trouble but I guess I stupidly hoped that maybe he would choose me. God, how selfish is that though? Lucas and his brother have been all each other had for so long and then I just wanted him to choose me? I never stood a chance.

Brooklyn lets out a cry from her room and I sigh as I turn to the baby monitor and watch her stand up, bracing her hands on the edge of the crib. Sighing, I fling the covers off my legs and glance out of the window as I stand. Sunlight streaks across the floor and I wipe away my tears, shoving my emotions into a box so I can be bright and cheery for my little girl. Fake it ’til you make it and all that. Brooklyn yells from her room and I grab my silk robe off the end of the bed and pull it on as I leave my bedroom and walk down the hallway to Brooklyn’s room.

“Good morning, gorgeous girl,” I sing as I step into her room, trying desperately to hang on to my smile for Brooklyn. She lets out another yell when she sees me and rattles the side of her crib. “Well, you’re feisty this morning, aren’t you?”

She pushes her bottom lip out in a pout and rubs at her eyes with a closed fist as big, crocodile tears well up in her eyes. They slide slowly down her chubby little cheeks and my heart breaks. Picking her up out of her crib, I cuddle her in my arms as I turn toward the rocking chair in the corner of the room. As I rock her back and forth, I hum a song and she lays her head on my shoulder, letting out a heavy, tearful sigh. I rub my hand across her back.

“What’s wrong, sweet baby?”

“Dada,” she mumbles before shoving her thumb in her mouth and I suck in a breath, tears stinging my eyes. Lord, how did we end up here? Only last week, I was blissfully in love and planning such a grand future for Brooklyn, Lucas, and me. Now, I don’t even know if we’re together, let alone if we have a future. I mean, how the hell could we?

“I know, sweetie,” I whisper, pressing my lips to her soft blonde hair. “What do you say we change your diaper and go find Auntie Alice for breakfast, huh?”

She lets out another sigh and I fight back tears as I stand and carry her over to her changing table. The cute little dress I laid out for her last night is laying on top of her dresser and I grab it before peeling her out of her pajamas and changing her diaper.

“Dada,” she says again, reaching toward the door and I spin around, my heart jumping into my throat only to fall when I see the empty doorway. Sucking in a breath as I turn back to Brooklyn, I shake my head and wipe a tear from her cheek.

“You got my hopes up, little girl.”

She reaches toward the door again. “Dada.”

“I miss him, too, Brookie.”

“Seems he’s missing you, too, if the truck parked across the street everyday for the last few days is any indication,” Alice says, stepping into the room and leaning against the doorframe. “You’ve seen it, right?”

I glance over at her and nod. “I’ve seen it.”

For the past few days, I’ve noticed Lucas’s truck periodically parked outside the house but he hasn’t gotten out and I haven’t worked up the nerve to go talk to him.

“Have you tried to talk to him?”

“No,” I scoff, my lip wobbling as I look away from her. “Too afraid that I’ll go out there and he’ll tell me that we’re done.”

“I don’t think he’ll do that, Quinn,” she whispers and I shake my head as I meet her eyes.

“You didn’t see his face, Al. I don’t know how we get past this.”

She nods. “Time will tell. Are you ready to go to the police?”

“I don’t know,” I mutter. Ever since seeing Clay’s face in the clubhouse, I’ve been trying to force myself to go down to the police station and pass the information along to a detective but I can’t seem to do it even though I know it has to be done. If it were any other man, he’d already be behind bars but it’s not any other man and it kills me to think about Lucas’s heartbreak over this whole thing.

“You need to do it. Just get it over with.”