Chapter 176
Oh, April, you stupid, stupid girl.
The look in Lucas’s eyes is amused, almost fond. Like he’s admiring a wounded mouse that thought it could gnaw its way through a trap.
He tilts my phone slightly, watching the audio recording continue to spike with every rustle, every breath.
I don’t move.
I can’t. Fear has me paralyzed.
My body won’t obey the screams of self–preservation in my mind. Run. Fight. Scratch. Bite.
Instead, I’m frozen in place as Lucas deletes the recording and then presses his thumb against the power button of my phone. When the screen goes black, he tosses the device onto the vanity, his eyes never leaving mine.
“You think you’re smart?” he murmurs. “Setting me up like this? What was your plan, hmm? To seduce me into confessing? Catch me with my pants down, literally and metaphorically?”
He chuckles darkly. “Let me guess. You were going to run out screaming, waving some flashy recording of me being a ‘monster‘ around like a golden ticket to sympathy.”
His voice drops lower. “Or maybe you thought your little knight would come save you again. Are you eager to see me and Nathan go a few more rounds?”
The mention of Nathan is like a blow to my chest, the ache pounding along with the fear.
Lucas’s lip curls. “He’s not coming, you know. Not this time. Valerie’s so snugly attached to him they might as well be Siamese twins.”
He steps closer, close enough that his minty breath hits my face. His hand reaches out and touches my cheek lightly, deceptively gently. I shudder and recoil.
“Poor April,” he purrs, sounding immensely satisfied. Like a predator who knows his prey has nowhere to run. “So brave. So fucking stupid.”
I jerk my head away, but he grabs my chin, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise. “You know what I love most about girls like you?” he whispers. “You believe the world plays by the rules. That if you follow the law, tell the truth, shout loud enough, someone will listen. Someone will care.”
He leans in until our foreheads almost touch. “But no one does. Not when you’re up against an Ashford.”
I try to speak, but his grip tightens.
“Do you know how many times girls like you have threatened to expose me?” His eyes glint with something truly unhinged. “Seven–that I can count. Do you know what happened to them?” He smiles, teeth flashing. “Fired. Blacklisted. Sued.”
I gulp, and his smile widens. “Do you know where Sarah is right now? Sitting pretty in Aurora Haven Residential Treatment Center after an…unfortunate mental breakdown.”
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Chapter 176
My eyes widen and fear–true, undiluted potent fear–chokes me.
Lucas lets go of my face abruptly, and I stumble back.
627
He laughs, dark and sinister. “I’m invincible, April. I could fuck you right now, here in this room, with your stupid spy lipstick recording every second–and no one would do a goddamn thing.”
My stomach flips. But I force myself not to look away.
“You wouldn’t dare,” I whisper, though my voice–my entire fucking body–quivers.
His eyes glint. I hate how much they look like Nathan’s. “Wouldn’t I?”
Lucas moves closer still, and I press back till my spine hits the wall. His hands bracket my head, trapping me like he did that day in the woods. My throat tightens.
“Let me tell you what’s about to happen,” he whispers against my ear. “Your phone recording is gone. I’m going to take that pretty little lipstick camera apart and flush it down the toilet. Then I’m going to take my sweet, sweet time, playing with you, April.”
Pressure builds in the back of my eyes, but I force the tears back down. Lucas can’t see the effect he has on me; I can’t let him see how fucking terrified I am.
“That look,” he muses, drawing a finger across my cheek. “You have no idea how much I love it, April. How much I look forward to shattering it.”
“You won’t get away with this,” I whisper.
“Oh yeah?” He snorts. “Who’s going to stop me?”
I glance at the door. Where the fuck is Lara?
He follows my gaze and lets out a bark of laughter. “You think anyone out there cares about you? You think Nathan does?”
He pulls back slightly, his eyes darkening. “You think Nathan will still want you after I’ve had you?” His voice is deadly soft now. “You think he’ll look at you and not see me all over you? You think that kind of purity is something you can just get back?”
His hand snakes around to the zipper of my dress.
I slap it away, hard.
He grabs my wrist instantly, twisting it. Pain shoots up my arm, and I gasp. “Let go!”
Lucas slams me back against the wall, his body pressed against mine.
“No,” he hisses. “Not until you understand exactly who you’re dealing with.”
His other hand traces my jaw as he leans in. “I was thirteen when I found my first plaything,” he murmurs. “Monica. She fought like you, was enraged that a teen dared speak to her, touch her the way I did.”
He grins. “She broke like a plastic fork, and it was so“-he presses himself into me-
–“damn fun.”
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Chapter 176
My stomach turns. “You’re disgusting.”
He grins. “And yet you came of your own accord. I was done with you, remember? Your own desperation brought you to this moment.”
“I was never desperate,” I snap, even as tears blur my eyes. “I was never going to let you win.”
Lucas tilts his head. “Still holding on to bravado, even with your back literally to the wall?”
His hand lowers again, this time curling around my waist. “This is going to be so fucking fun.”
And then-
SLAM.
The door flies open, and the sound ricochets through the small room like a gunshot.
I flinch.
Lucas jerks away, and both of our heads snap to the doorway-
-where Nathan stands.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
