Chapter 27 – Blair
Outside the courthouse, I hurried to my car, got in, and slammed the door shut behind me. I reached for my keys with trembling hands, started the engine, and drove off immediately.
The last thing I wanted was to be spotted by anyone at the Bureau or worse, the press.
My grip tightened around the steering wheel as I sped up, my mind racing from what I’d just done. The plan was to testify against Nickolai Tarasov and finally put an end to him. But when it came down to it, I just couldn’t do it.
The man was innocent and wasn’t going to be a part of the people who conspired against him. There was no going back; I’d crossed a line and pissed off a lot of my superiors. Maybe I was even in a bigger problem now because I just made the Bureau look stupid in the courtroom.
I glanced at the buzzing phone dashboard console—it was an incoming call from director Martha Voss. “Shit,” I murmured under my breath, my heart pounding like a drum in my heaving chest.
The phone kept buzzing incessantly, and I couldn’t bring myself to answer it. I knew what the conversation was about, and I wasn’t ready to have it yet. At this point, I was as good as fired already.
I floored it, and the car surged forward with a fierce growl. I wasn’t sure where I was headed; I just wanted to get away from this madness as quickly as possible. My phone’s screen kept lighting up with calls from my colleagues at the Bureau.
Nobody saw it coming. Nobody thought that I would betray my own and choose a criminal over them.
I wiped my palm across my face, ignoring everyone’s calls as I drove on. My heart was hammering in my chest, and a thousand thoughts were tugging at my mind, threatening to rip it apart.
The city blurred past me in a jiffy as the vehicle hurtled down the road. I swiped my fingers through my hair, unable to quiet the voices in my head. I just needed some peace, but that seemed impossible to find.
The car surged forward with reckless abandon, and I almost knocked down a cyclist.
“Hey, watch it!” the man yelled as my vehicle sped past him.
I was too caught up in my thoughts to apologize or feel guilty about nearly hitting him. The car sped down the highway with my eyes fixed on the road ahead. It felt like I was running away from myself, but the faster I went, the emptier I felt inside.
First, I betrayed Nik; now I’d betrayed the whole bureau. Was there something wrong with me? Did I make the right choice by letting a man like him walk free? What if he came after me? What’s the guarantee that he’d forgive me for the trouble I put him through?
Would it even matter to him that I retraced my steps and refused to testify against him? Was I safe? What’s going to happen to me now?
Nik would come for me, and the Bureau would also do the same. The million-dollar question now was: Which one of them would find me first?
That question had barely registered when the sound of screeching tires behind me caught my attention. I looked in the rearview mirror just in time to see a black SUV make a dangerous swerve around a truck.
The car sped past us in an instant. The next moment, its bumper hit the back of mine, causing my car to jerk.
“Shit.” I switched gears and gunned the engine, my vehicle accelerating with a deafening roar.
I sped up the highway, the speedometer needle climbing up to three digits. The vehicle behind was unrelenting, the driver hitting the accelerator hard. It wasn’t until I looked more closely in the rearview mirror that I realized Nik was the one chasing me in that SUV.
My heart skipped a beat, and I slammed on the gas, my vehicle weaving through traffic like a rocket. He followed, chasing me through the city—every turn, every reckless swerve.
I refused to slow down, and neither did he. This man was determined to catch me, never to let me slip through his fingers. The closer he drew to me, the faster my heart raced. I wasn’t sure why he was hell bent on catching me, and I wasn’t ready to find out either.
I took a sharp turn down a lonely street, my tires screeching loudly against the asphalt. And just when I thought I had lost him, his car appeared behind me again. This time, faster than ever. I struggled to maintain a safe distance between us, but his car shot off and overtook mine in a heartbeat.
Nik swerved his vehicle to a stop, cutting me off with perfect precision. To avoid a collision, I had to slam on the brakes, bringing my car to an abrupt halt.
I watched him get out of his car and rush toward mine with hurried steps. By the time I looked out the window, he was already standing outside.
“Open the door,” he demanded. “Open it, now!”
Driven by fear, I unlocked it.
He yanked the door open, grabbed my hand, and forced me out of the car.
“Let go of me!” I blurted out, squirming out of his hold.
He left my hand and grabbed my jaw, his voice low and venomous. “I should end you right now.”
“For what, clearing your name?” I asked, masking my fear with anger and arrogance.
“My name was ruined because of you in the first place!” He raised his voice a bit higher than usual. “You betrayed me! You used me!”
I knocked his hand off my face. “That’s rich coming from the man who locked me up in his mansion for weeks!”
“I was trying to keep you safe, and you paid me back with betrayal!” he snapped, his tone tinged with more pain than rage. “You lied to me for months, used me, pretended you cared when in actual fact, you were just playing a part.”
His words cut me deeper than a knife.
My voice dropped to a low whisper, my eyes locked on him. “Is that what you think?” I began, calm and gentle. “That I was just playing a part?”
He stared at me in silence, his expression softening by the second.
“Was I playing a part when I gave myself to you twice?” My voice rose higher than his. “Was I playing a part when I got pregnant for you, huh?” I pushed against his chest. “Tell me, Nik, was I?”
“I don’t know. You tell me!”
“I wasn’t!” I yelled in his face, my heartbeat escalating.
“You expect me to believe that, after all you did?”
I shook my head, my voice breaking under the weight of the emotions crushing me. “You don’t understand! I was confused—I had only one job, and that was to expose you as the monster that you are!” Tears rolled down my cheeks, my chest heaving with even breaths.
He paused for a second, his eyes never leaving mine. “If you think I’m a monster, then why did you change your testimony?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“Bullshit!” he snapped again. “You moved from standing with the rest of the world against me to standing with me against the rest of the world. Why is that?”
And that’s when I lost it and yelled, “Because I love you!”
A loud thunder roared overhead as flashes of lightning streaked across the clouds. Seconds later, it started pouring, soaking us to the skin. My hair was damp, and my clothes were soaked, as were his.
Nik looked speechless, his expression softened by my confession. For the next few seconds, he only stared at me, confused and unsure of what to say to me.
I broke the silence that followed my outburst. “I’m supposed to hate you, Nik—and trust me, I tried. But I can’t.” I shook my head, the rain pelting mercilessly on me. “I can’t hate the father of my unborn child—the man who saved my life on multiple occasions. I just can’t.”
Still, he didn’t say a word. Yet his eyes wouldn’t leave my face.
“I changed my testimony because you’re not the man they painted you to be,” I continued, my voice calm but laced with pain and regret. “I couldn’t sit back and watch them ruin you for crimes you didn’t commit—especially since you weren’t even my target to begin with.”
Silence.
“Look, you don’t have to believe me—and if hating me or punishing me would make you feel better, then go ahead, have at it. All I know is I’ll never….”
I was still talking when he fisted my jacket and pulled me close to himself. Before I could say another word, his lips crashed against mine, devouring them with an intense fervency.
Breathless, I kissed him back, tasting the rainwater slapping against our skins. Our heads tilted to the side, fueled by desire and pent-up rage. The kiss was hot and fervent, mirroring the hunger within us.
That familiar flame was once again burning so wildly, threatening to consume me. I’d almost forgotten what his lips tasted like, and there was no way I was pulling away this time.
Under the rain, we held each other close, tongues invading our mouths. His touch awakened emotions in me I hadn’t felt in weeks. My heart was swelling with passion, my knees were weak, and my legs had turned to jelly.
He kissed me like he was about to undress me any second—right here, right now—on the deserted street. His hands caressed my breasts, and mine slipped beneath his jacket, then traveled down to his groin.
I traced the print of his cock underneath the fabric of his pants, my hand feeling his hardness beneath my grip.
Fuck, I missed this!
I missed it so badly!
He pulled me closer, grazing his cock against my thighs while cradling the back of my neck in his palms. His mouth wouldn’t leave mine, and even though I could barely breathe, I enjoyed every second of his lips devouring mine.
I broke the kiss, panting, watching with lustful eyes as rainwater streamed down his handsome face. “Fuck me,” I said, my voice firm and final.