Page 91

Whitney

I stared down at her words, reading the last few sentences over and over and over again. My hands trembled with rage, adrenaline converging with a heartache so profound it was like a black hole had opened in my chest. A fire blazed through my veins, a thousand little needles pricking into my lungs as a manic energy took over my system.

She’d left me.

She loved me and she’d fucking left me.

The betrayal was like a lance slicing through my heart, my lungs, my stomach, until it felt like everything inside me was spilling out onto the floor at my feet.

I barreled out of the office and down the steps, shouting for Brooks. I rounded the corner into the kitchen, where Brooks was holding his laptop.

“Hey,” he said, his face grim. He flipped it around, showing me the camera feed from the backyard camera. “She went out the back about two hours ago.”

I stared at Whitney on the screen, my heart already shattered. She hiked the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder, tilted her head down toward the lounger we’d sat on just yesterday, then ran down the steps.

“But my perimeter alarms weren’t tripped, which means she never left the property. She’s here somewhere⁠—”

I didn’t wait for him to finish, sprinting through the house, only one thought running through my mind.

Find her.

I ran out the back door, down the steps, ready to hunt through every fucking inch of this property until I found her. I took off in a straight line from the house. The sun was already setting, and god fucking knew which direction she’d gone. The overwhelming thought that I might never find her, that I was too late, that she was gone for good, sent a bolt of unadulterated panic ringing through my bones. Rage and betrayal burned through me, smothering the panic until I was nothing but a buzzing hive of fury.

No. I would fucking find her. And when I did, I would make sure she could never, ever run from me again. I would⁠—

Movement to the right had me whipping my head in that direction, and I staggered to a halt, breathing hard. A fire was working its way through my veins as I panted, watching the small figure step out from the copse of trees.

The relief that swept through me seeing her there was as strong as a blow to the gut, all the oxygen bursting from my lungs as my legs trembled.

An electric tension crackled between us as we stood there staring at each other for a long beat. As soon as Whitney saw me, her face paled as those blue eyes, full of alarm, darted over every inch of me. She looked exhausted and her shirt was ripped at her abdomen.

But all I could focus on was the duffel bag she was holding.

A film of red spread across my vision, every logical, reasonable bone in my body snapping as the confirmation that she was trying to leave—for good—stood in front of me.

Grab her. Grab her before she can go another fucking inch. Drag her back to your house and make sure she can never fucking leave again.

Her bottom lip trembled, and as I took a step toward her, my hands tight fists by my side, she took a wary step back.

Wrong fucking move. I pointed to the spot in front of me. “Come here, Whitney.”

A dark red flush spread across her cheeks as she slowly shook her head. That only sent a furious wave of frustration rolling through me. “Come. Here.”

She licked her lips and sucked in a sharp breath, lowering the duffel slowly to the ground and holding her hands up in a placating gesture. “Court, let me ex⁠—”

I sprinted toward her, and she let out a panicked cry, turned on her heel, and ran.

She was fast. She used her smaller size to her advantage, ducking under low-hanging branches that I charged right through, rough bark scraping my arms and face. I felt none of it. The burning need to grab her, drag her to the ground, and fuck the fight right out of her was the only thing pumping through my veins.

The chase didn’t last anywhere near long enough to satisfy me. When she tripped over an upraised root and threw a terrified glance back at me over her shoulder, a wicked, delicious sense of triumph spilled through me. Slowly, I prowled toward her, and when she pushed to her knees as if she was about to get up and start running again, I grabbed her ankle and yanked hard, pulling her through the dirt and leaves until she was beneath me and I fell to my knees to straddle her.

Trap her.

My heart felt like it was about to explode in my chest, the fear and panic that I’d almost lost her clamoring for dominance inside of me, but my voice was steady as I leaned over her. Threading my fingers through her hair, I gripped hard and brought my face to hers. “You want to run from me, Whitney?” I licked a slow line from her jaw to the corner of her eye as she whimpered beneath me, every tremble of her body sending delighted shivers through mine. “Good luck even walking after I’m done with you.”

“Court—”

I bit down on her neck, pressing my hips down until she couldn’t move at all. She cried out, her trembling intensifying as I sucked hard at her skin.