“Sure sounded like you were to me, what with how she was wailing like a banshee.”
Holy shit, are they fighting?
I finally make myself move and open the door, only to see Cade hit Lucas in the face. Gasping, I cover my mouth as Lucas attacks in turn and Cade goes down.I want to break them up but I don’t have a chance of stopping them.
“Decades of you talking down to me. Decades of you thinking—oof.”
I hear someone grunt.
“You’re the one who’s a mess, Cade. You can’t do anything right, you asswipe—”
A hard crack ricochets from the room.
There’s a snarl of pain and Cade is hissing, “I made one fucking mistake and you condemned me for it forever.”
“You killed Vinny. That wasn’t just a mistake, Cade,” he roars. “And you’re doing it again. I can’t believe you fucked her!”
“I think I love her, Lucas!” And that makes my heart literally freeze in my chest.
Those words are suddenly on repeat in my head—I think I love her…
“Of course, you think that. Why wouldn’t you? Unless you’ve got evidence that Davis is a liar, Aidan won’t want to hear it. He’s doing this as a favor. Saving some poor bitch from her fate tied to an MC that’s got her imprisoned—”
And that’s when my mind taps out. My body takes over.
I turn and force myself to move.
Run.
Running is the one thing I can do. I’ve done it before and made it, and I can do it again. I head toward the elevator then rush into the entrance hall, not caring if anyone sees me. All I know is I need to get away.
“Isabelle? You okay?” I vaguely hear Kitty calling after me as I burst onto the sidewalk.
Run. My legs must be obeying because I’m out of breath when I finally stop. Looking back to see if anyone has followed me, I see that I’m alone.
Despair makes the tears finally fall as I lean my back against the brick wall in the alley and cover my face with my hands as I try to figure out what my plan is.
It boils down to one thing. Well, one person.
Charlie.
I need Charlie.
I jerk my phone out of my back pocket, trying to catch my breath as I tap her name.
“Cindy?” Her voice is loud. Bewildered. “Thank God! Where the fuck have you been?”
I start sobbing, then I hear someone start laughing and jolt when I see a couple of old men are sitting on a bench, watching me like I’m an afternoon matinee at the cinema.
Snarling under my breath, I push myself off the wall and head deeper down the alley, wrinkling my nose at the stench of garbage and the rats that don’t even try to hide from me.
“I’m sorry I worried—”
“Worried us? We thought you were fucking dead, Cindy! Jesus Christ! I’ve had David checking the morgues—”
“Charlie, listen, I’m in trouble. I…”
How many times am I going to do this?