Chapter 15
MADISON
This was insane.
No, it was completely fucking certifiable.
His grip on my hand tightened as he dragged me across the parking lot to some super-expensive-looking black car. The rain hit like needles against my bare arms. My flats slapped through puddles, soaking my feet, every step sending a hard jolt up through my shins.
I looked over my shoulder expecting to see a small army of guards with guns drawn running after us, but no one came.
Who the hell was Pierce Worthington?
Did money really buy this much power?
This was another setup. It had to be.
Pierce opened the passenger door and motioned with his head. “Get in.”
Not caring about the rain pouring down on us, I shook my head and backed away.
He shifted his grip from my hand to my hair, twisting his fist into the now wet and tangled locks. “That wasn’t a request, Madison.”
Wedging my palms against his chest, I shoved backward to try to break free. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”
With a growl, he tossed his suit coat into the car then slammed my back against the slick side of the car, pressing his body into my front.
The metal was ice-cold through my wet blouse.
He was not. His body heat burned through his soaked shirt and into my skin, and I hated that my body registered the difference.
His eyes slipped from my mouth to my eyes and back again. “What makes you think you have a choice?”
Cold drops of rain skimmed over his hard cheekbones as his black hair curled at the ends.
“I’ll scream.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Go ahead. See if anyone dares defy me to save you.”
I raised my chin, ignoring the hard press of him against my stomach. His thigh had wedged between mine when he pinned me, and every time I shifted to get away, I only pressed closer. I stopped moving. “You’re setting me up again. They were going to find me not guilty, and you knew it.”
He ran the backs of his knuckles down my cheek before grabbing my chin. “Babygirl, there wasn’t a chance in hell that jury was going to find you not guilty, even if your lawyer had done his job. I made sure of it.”
For one stupid moment in that conference room, I’d thought I was safe with him. But no, he was still the monster from my nightmares come to life. I would be smart to never forget that.
There was a flash of lightning as the storm intensified, but it was nothing compared to the dark look Pierce was giving me.
The raindrops stung as they pounded against my skin.
Once again, his stare shifted over my face, but this time it slipped lower.
The rain had soaked through the thin silk fabric of my blouse. Every swirl and filigree of my white lace bra could be seen through the translucent fabric. My nipples had hardened from the cold—at least that was what I told myself—and there was nowhere to hide it.
With a cry, I raised my arms to cover my chest.
Pierce snatched my wrists and pulled my arms away, pinning them against the car on either side of my shoulders. “Don’t,” he snarled.
His head lowered. His lips were so close to mine his breath warmed my skin.
His gaze captured mine. The air in my lungs seized as I stilled, dreading yet craving the moment he claimed my mouth with his.
My back arched off the car. The smallest fraction of an inch, barely a submission… but he noticed…of course he did.
He inhaled sharply, expanding his chest, pressing it harder against me as he tightened his grasp. “Madison, I—
“There they are!”
Over Pierce’s shoulder, one of the injured guards from the conference room raced toward us, gun drawn.
I heard the report of a bullet a fraction of a second before it punctured the side of the car only a few inches from where we were standing. The impact vibrated through the metal and into my spine.
Pierce’s large hand cupped the back of my head, and he thrust my body forward, completely shielding me as he pushed me into the passenger seat of the car and slammed the door shut.
My hands shook and my ears rang while he raced around to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel.
I covered my head and screamed as another bullet shattered the back passenger side window, sending a shower of broken glass into the interior of the car.
Pebbled shards hit the backs of my hands and the nape of my neck.
I clenched my jaw and curled my body into a tighter ball, fighting against my body’s trauma response and memories of the night of the crash.
Pierce threw the car into reverse. The tires screeched as the car pitched backward out of the parking space. It fishtailed on the wet pavement when he threw it into drive and hit the gas. Two more bullets punched into the metal frame.
“Get down,” he thundered, wrapping his hand around my neck and pulling my head down onto his lap, tossing his suit coat over my head for protection.
The gunfire became muffled, then distant, then disappeared altogether. The only sounds left were the engine, the rain hammering the roof, the swishing windshield wipers, and the wind whistling through the broken window. Pierce’s breathing was freakishly controlled.
Suspicion crept in. No one was that in command of their emotions.
We’d just been shot at. The only rational reason for his now-calm demeanor was if this was all part of his plan.
The guards. The gunfire. All of it designed to make me think the worst. To gaslight me, like he had been from the beginning.
His hand was still on the back of my neck, his thumb pressing into the hollow behind my ear. I placed my palm on his hard thigh and cautiously tried to raise my head up, dislodging his suit coat. He didn’t let go. The muscle in his thigh was rigid under my cheek.
Swiping the clinging wet strands of my hair aside, I looked sideways up at him.
Pierce kept his eyes on the road. Anger made his full mouth a tight, thin line as he inhaled deeply through his nose.
The rain pelted the windshield as he took me further and further away from the courthouse.
This man had just turned me into a fugitive from the law.
And the worst part—the part that made me want to scream—was that pressed as I was against his thigh with his hand on my neck, I didn’t feel trapped. I felt held. And that terrified me more than the bullets.