Chapter Forty-Six
Chloe
The sudden crash of the door bursting open jolted me upright.
I yanked the sheets up, covering my bare skin. Zane’s arm shot out protectively in front of me, shielding me from whatever threat had just barged in.
“Boss—” A man’s urgent, breathless voice cut through the air.
“Are you out of your fucking mind? Close the fucking door, Andy!” Zane barked furious.
Despite Zane’s fury, Andy didn’t move. But his eyes never left the ground in a sign of respect. “You weren’t answering your phone, and it can’t wait. Ivar sent me.”
Zane’s entire body tensed, his eyes narrowing dangerously. The shift in his expression was so subtle but lethal. “Ivar? What happened?”
Andy shifted uneasily, his gaze flicking to me for a split second before quickly darting away, clearly reluctant to discuss whatever it was in front of me.
“There was an ambush during the ship unloading,” he explained, and my heart sank, my chest tightening as if the air had been sucked from the room. “We need you there.”
It’s happening.
“Wait outside!” Zane ordered.
Andy nodded sharply and disappeared, pulling the door shut behind him.
The moment he was gone, I reached for Zane, grabbing his wrist with trembling fingers, desperate to stop him.
“Please, don’t go—”
His eyes searched mine with intensity, waiting for something I wasn’t saying. My lips parted and I almost told him.
I wanted to tell him everything. But nothing came out, no matter how hard I tried.
Zane didn’t wait. He pulled free, climbing out of bed in one swift motion, grabbing his clothes off the floor, and throwing them on swiftly.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said firmly, not even looking at me as he fastened his belt.
I watched him rush out. The door clicking shut behind him felt like a nail in my coffin.
My heart screamed at me to chase after him, to beg him to stay but I was trapped in my own skin, paralyzed by the consequences of my decisions.
Swallowing hard, I dragged myself across the mattress, reaching under it and pulling out the burner. The screen lit up.
02:58.
Whatever I’d set in motion was already happening, or hopefully, about to end.
We were so tucked away from civilization, that even at full speed, it would take Zane at least an hour to reach any potential ambush site. By then, it would all be over.
He was safe.
At least, that was what I hoped.
These past days, I’d convinced myself this was the right thing to do. That Zane could handle himself and only my sister and our freedom mattered.
But now it was actually happening, it was suffocating.
A shaky breath escaped as I buried my face in my hands.
I needed to save my sister. I promised her I would. But at what cost? Could I live with myself if Zane didn’t come back?
Damn it, Chloe!
I shouldn’t feel guilty. Not for choosing my baby sister over a criminal, a man who had been using me and who had hurt me. One who had held my life over my head more times than I could count.
I shouldn’t feel bad for doing what was right.
But I did.
If something happened to him, it would be because of me. The image of him caught in the crossfire, bleeding out, swallowed me whole in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
The room suddenly felt smaller and the walls closed in, the air was just too thick to breathe.
My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning out reason, drowning out everything but the fact that I’d made this happen.
I had crossed that line. I had betrayed Zane, and there was no turning back from it now.