Chapter 154
Chapter 154:
Alycia stepped from the shadows and stumbled deliberately, letting out a weak, breathless gasp.
Cole stopped. He saw her. His jaw locked, and a look of deep, involuntary irritation crossed his face. He tried to continue past her, but Alycia moved forward and seized his sleeve with both hands. Her fingers were ice-cold.
“Cole, please,” she whispered, her voice calibrated to the precise frequency of helplessness. “I feel so dizzy. I can barely stand. Please, just let your driver take me home. I think I’m going to faint p>
Cole looked at her pale face. The vow he had made at Caleb’s grave two days ago echoed in his mind like a curse. He despised her presence, but his obligation held him like a steel collar.
He yanked the passenger door open. “Get in,” he said, his voice entirely without warmth.
Alycia sank into the leather seat as though her legs had given out. Cole got behind the wheel, hit the ignition himself, and pulled out without waiting for his driver.
The Bentley merged onto the highway heading out of Manhattan and eventually took an exit toward a desolate stretch of the Long Island Expressway.
The atmosphere in the cabin was suffocating.
Alycia pressed her hand against her stomach and leaned her head against the cold glass, letting out a soft, deliberate sound of nausea. She was waiting for the opening — for Cole to ask what was wrong.
Cole said nothing.
𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝘁
He reached out and pressed a button on the center console. The passenger window rolled down four inches.
A blast of freezing, damp wind howled into the car and struck Alycia directly in the face. She gasped, her thin dress offering nothing against the cold. Her teeth began to chatter. The humiliation of his complete indifference burned in her throat.
Just as she opened her mouth, Cole’s phone on the center console began to vibrate hard.
The screen lit up: MRS. LYNCH — HAMPTONS ESTATE.
Cole’s brow furrowed. He snatched the phone and brought it to his ear, cutting the Bluetooth connection. “Speak p>
Alycia could not hear the voice on the other end, but she watched the blood drain from Cole’s face in real time. His knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. His pupils dilated with raw, animal terror.
“Where?” he barked. “Are they there yet? Stabilize her. I’m on my way p>
His foot hit the brake with violent, sudden force.
The Bentley’s ceramic brakes locked. The tires screamed against the asphalt. The kinetic force threw Alycia forward, and the seatbelt snapped her back hard into the seat. She cried out.
The car came to a shuddering halt in the dimly lit lot of a closed, rundown service station just off the exit ramp. The first heavy drops of the thunderstorm began to detonate against the windshield.
Cole turned his head.
His eyes were completely wild — filled with the kind of focused, murderous urgency that had no room left for anything or anyone in its path. He looked at Alycia as though she were an obstacle between him and survival.