“Danny, just stop,” I say as I rise to my feet on shaky legs, knowing I need to get out of here somehow.
“Did you like the messages? My little game?” he asks.
I knew it was him. I bloody knew it.
“Don’t worry, little one,” he says as he reaches forward and grabs my hand in both of his. “I know that my dad was the one to call the police. I know you would never do that to me.”
I am living in a freakin’ nightmare. An actual nightmare where I am rapidly wishing that Caleb would come home and stop this madness.
“I tell you, driving miles away to send those messages was a pain in the arse, and I thought that it would work, get him away from you when he realised that someone else loved you and wanted you more than he ever could. But of course, he was always stubborn as fuck.”
I feel the bile rise in my throat.
“Please don’t tell me he’s tasted you, I don’t think I could bear it.”
Yup, I’m going to puke any minute now.
“Actually, no, don’t tell me, I don’t wanna know,” he says as he squeezes his eyes shut, and in a flash of what I am hoping is brilliance, I seize my moment and turn quickly to pick up the lamp off the side table, by the sofa. Before I can think about what I’m doing too hard, I swing it round, expecting to hit him over the head with it, but he opens his eyes at the last second and grabs my wrist with one hand, digging his fingers in and causing me to let go. I block out the pain as I kick out at him, just wanting him to get the hell away from me.
I thrash about as he tries to wrap his hands around me. I feel the force of his palm connecting with my cheek, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop. If I stop then he’ll have won. I use every ounce of energy I have to push him off of me, and then I bring my knee to his dick and he goes down like a sack of spuds.
“You bitch,” he shouts as I break away and head to the front door once again. This time, I get the door open and one foot outside, then the other, and as my feet hit the gravel on the driveway, I know I’m a few steps closer to being free. Just a few more steps until I can grab someone’s attention and get help. But it seems fate has other ideas in store as my hair is grabbed once again and I’m being dragged back inside. I scream loudly, I try to stay rooted to the spot, but it feels like my hair is being pulled out from the roots, and I admit defeat as I’m dragged back inside, the door slamming loudly as I’m thrown to the hallway floor.
And as my eyes connect with Danny’s as he look down at me, it feels like ice is flowing through my veins when he says, "Now I’m really pissed.”
ChapterForty-One
Caleb
“What do you mean there is no meeting scheduled?” I fume to Mr Corporate’s PA. “It’s been in my diary for the last two weeks.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but there is nothing scheduled with Mr Rowe. I’ve just spoken to him and checked.”
“And you didn’t think to do that when I first turned up here?” I ask, shocked at how crap the organisation is.
“I was trying to, but I’ve only just been able to get a hold of him.” She doesn’t sound very sorry mind you, and it’s getting right up my fucking nose.
“Well you can tell Mr Rowe that any future business will need to go elsewhere because he will never get the chance to work with Elite Enterprises again,” I say before I turn and storm out of there. I’ve been waiting for two bloody hours, and I swear, whoever made this fuck up is going to feel my wrath. When I make it to the lifts, I jab the button, waiting impatiently for it to arrive so I can call Anthony from the car and fill him in on the non-meeting and go home to bury myself in Cameron.
The lift finally pings open, and I get in, jabbing the next button to take me to the ground floor. The lift seems to move painfully slow, and when I get to the ground floor, the doors open to reveal Bliss. What? I blink a few times before I step out and come to the conclusion that I am not imagining her being stood there.
I feel my brows furrow as she looks at me with something like panic, and possibly, regret in her eyes.
“Bliss? What the hell are you doing here?” I ask, in no mood for her to be dicking me around.
“I fucked up, Caleb,” she says quietly, and I can see she’s holding back tears as she blinks rapidly and looks like she would rather be anywhere else.
My blood turns to ice as a feeling of horror creeps over me.
“What have you done?” I ask roughly.
“He made me do it, I swear,” she says, but her pleas fall on deaf ears. I’ve not given one single fuck about this woman since she turned my world upside down, and I’m not about to start now.
“Made you do what?” I ask as I take a step closer. She looks intimidated, and that was exactly what I was going for. She wrings her hands together, and it takes everything in me not to grab her by the scruff of her neck and shake the truth out of her. “Bliss, what is going on?” I demand.
“He made me set up this false meeting. He told me I had to, otherwise he was going to kill himself.”
“Who?” I question.