Chapter 17
E mmeline
Shaking, I inched closer to the back exit of the gym. If I could make it there and throw open the door, another shout might alert someone inside.
The man prowled after me. “You shouldn’t have let him claim you, Emmeline. You made the wrong choice. You were supposed to be mine.”
What? “Who are you?”
It was the wrong thing to say. He lunged for me.
I screamed and twisted to run, but the tall heels I’d worn to the Christmas meal snagged on the ground, and I fell. Gravel cut into my knee. I scrambled to stand.
A hand gripped my shoulder. “You fucking bitch. After that time we shared together and you don’t even recognise me? I’ll make you remember.”
He hauled me up, the effort dislodging his black mask and revealing his face.
Oh God.
I did know him. He was the man who’d tried to claim me in the game. The one I’d been terrified of, and who Malachi had beat to the floor. Even now, the stains of bruises still decorated his cheekbones and the sockets of his reddened eyes.
“You didn’t win,” I choked through my terror.
“I should have. That bastard cheated me,” the man roared.
Every person who signed up for the game had to respect the outcome, but telling him that would do nothing. He was insane. Properly crazy.
I inflated my lungs to scream again, but he snapped out a hand and clamped it over my lips and nose, cutting off my air supply altogether.
Wild, I fought to breathe, using up precious oxygen as I kicked and bucked to get away. But just like in the warehouse basement, I was powerless. The madman carried me under his arm as if I were a child, back across the car park and towards the shadows.
Fear built in a crescendo. I had no chance if he got me into a car. I had to do something, except my strength was nothing compared to his.
Another awful thought crept in. Why hadn’t I told Malachi exactly what I wanted earlier? Why hadn’t I said yes and told him I needed more? If I didn’t show tonight, he might think I’d got cold feet and left him ahead of our deadline.
Would he even come looking for me?
If he didn’t, I might never escape the madman again.
“Hey! Let her go.”
My vision dimmed, but I craned my neck to find the source of the shout.
A slight figure with a blonde braid sprinted across the forecourt. Maisie? No! Against the insane contestant’s sweaty palm, I silently screamed.
Malachi’s daughter put on a burst of speed. “Put her down. Now.”
“Fuck off, kid.”
On the verge of blacking out, I willed Maisie to back away, but the fourteen-year-old clearly didn’t understand my panicked stare. She rounded us to cut off the man’s flight.
Then she took a breath, positioned her leg back, ducked her weight, and threw a punch in a split second.
It connected with my attacker’s throat.
He stumbled and dropped me.
I hit the ground and sucked in air, consciousness mine once more.
“Quick!” Maisie yelped. “We need to get inside. I knocked my dad out?—”
“You did what?”
“Just move!”
Snatching my hand, she dragged me to my feet. I stumbled but ran with her, back to the gym, with the madman choking and coughing behind us. I didn’t dare peek around to see how near he was, but I sensed his grip almost closing in on me.
Right as we reached the door, Malachi burst out, one hand to his head and his features twisted in panic. He spotted us, and relief crinkled his brow.
Malachi embraced me. I half fell on him.
It was short-lived.
Maisie jabbed a finger. “That fucking asshole had Emmeline. Get him. I’ll call the police.”
He hugged me to his broad body, one hand to his daughter’s shoulder, then he released us both and stalked the way we’d come.
I almost didn’t want to see. Not at the contestant who about-turned and ran. Not as Malachi put on a burst of speed, so obviously on a course to catch him.
I didn’t have to. Maisie guided me inside.
I let her sit me on a bench and listened while she acted the adult, asking the operator for the police. Then my brain finally woke properly, and I put a hand out for the phone.
She passed it over. “Don’t be scared. Dad has this.”
“You saved me.”
I put the phone to my ear to summon the police, and Maisie smiled.
“Anytime.”
* * *
A n hour on, and two uniformed officers wrapped up my interview, a statement drafted, and the gym’s CCTV footage given as evidence. Malachi had taken down my attacker who’d screamed about how he was set upon and the victim.
All until Maisie informed him the cameras captured every moment of how he’d attempted to kidnap me and how she’d then floored a man five times her size. After that, he shut up and let them take him away without another peep.
Maisie’s mum and stepdad showed up, Petra and their baby in tow. Petra hugged everyone multiple times, exclaiming over the bandage on my knee—my only visible injury—then the little family went home with an extra-quiet word between Malachi and his slugger daughter.
I’d barely even gotten a good look at Malachi’s ex, and it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except what I needed to say to him.
After the last people left us, I held his hands and tried to find my words.
He put a finger to my lips. “Not yet.”
“But—”
“When we get home. Please, angel. If we’re about to fall apart, I want it to be where I can take you to bed immediately after.”
He drove quickly, the black night speeding by.
At his thatched cottage, he collected me from my seat and carried me inside. In his bathroom, he set the shower going and stripped us both.
Then under the water, my huge, beautiful fighter shook. “I’m so fucking sorry. I knew something was wrong. Maisie needed me, and I didn’t check my phone. If I had?—”
My turn to put my finger to his lips. “Don’t you dare apologise for someone else’s crime.”
“He could’ve hurt you. More than he already did. It’s my job to take care of you?—”
I cut him off with a kiss. Instantly, he responded, driving his fingers into my wet hair and taking all he needed from my lips.
“I can’t bear the thought of anyone scaring you. If Maisie hadn’t called the cops, I would’ve killed him.”
“And that only makes me love you more.”
He stared at me, water droplets on his eyelashes and something so vulnerable in his gaze. “Say that again.”
“I love you. Truly. I need to tell you something.”
“No. Let me. Please?” At my slight nod, he continued. “I’ve been obsessed with you since before the game. It isn’t fair for you to say anything more without knowing that.”
Malachi picked me up and pushed my back to the warm shower wall. His hard dick lodged between my legs, not going inside, though he surged against me as if his words could make this the last time.
“From the first second I saw you, I knew you’d be mine. I took down your licence plate outside the warehouse and got your name and address. Then I went to your house. I told off that neighbour as he parked in your spot. I fixed your car.”
I stared, my mind working overtime. “I thought I’d imagined that.”
“Nope, it was me. I even went to your job and threw money around to get one of the doctors to retire. All this because I wanted to be yours. I put myself in your life without permission, and that was over the line.”
My heart was beating so fast, it was going to burst.
I loved that he’d done those things. Not a single part of it bothered me. I’d so badly needed someone to care that much.
“In a way, I did the same,” I said in a rush. “I saw you in an interview and made myself come after lusting over you. Then I joined the game because I thought you might be in it, too. I only went there for you. I was obsessed, and then I met you, and now I’m far, far beyond that.”
Malachi gave a startled laugh. “We’re as crazy as each other.”
“Only for you.”
“Only for you,” he agreed, then jerking his hips, he slipped inside me, the stretch so overwhelmingly right.
My eyelids fluttered closed.
“No, angel. Eyes on me.”
I obeyed. He smiled.
“It’s midnight. Our thirty days are over.”
I kissed him. “Then the rest of our lives just began.”