Chapter 413
Chapter 413:
Tripp didn’t answer. He reached across, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into the vehicle in one firm motion.
“Tripp! Did you hear me? We have to go back p>
He pushed her into the back seat, dropped into the front, and started the engine, his expression stone-cold.
Kristine yanked at the door handle. Locked.
“Tripp, we can’t just leave him p>
“Ms. Green.” His voice rose sharply as he looked back at her. “Mr. Edwards gave me one instruction. One. Get you out safely. He cannot focus on anything else until he knows you’re clear. So sit down p>
Kristine fell silent, the words hitting her harder than she expected.
Then the car jolted — a sudden, violent impact, as though the world outside had closed in.
She looked through the window.
Her blood ran cold.
Dozens of vehicles surrounded them, blocking every exit in a seamless wall of steel and headlights. And there at the front, standing in the full blaze of the lights, was Colton.
𝗕𝘦 р𝗮r𝗍 𝗼𝘧 o𝗎𝗋 𝘤om𝘮𝘶𝘯іt𝘆 𝗈n
The brightness made him look almost unreal — tall and utterly composed, as if he had arranged all of this in advance and simply waited for everyone to arrive. His eyes found the car immediately, scanning through the glass with the cold precision of someone who had already won.
Even from inside the vehicle, Kristine felt herself go rigid.
She pressed her hands together in her lap and willed them to stop trembling.
In the front seat, Tripp’s voice came out unsteady. “Ms. Green — should I try to break through p>
Kristine looked at the wall of cars surrounding them. Too many. Too many men. There was no gap to aim for, no angle that didn’t end badly.
There was no way out.
She stared at Colton. Then she blinked once, and said quietly, “Unlock the door p>
Tripp didn’t move.
“Unlock the door, Tripp p>
She said it softly — but with a finality that left no room for argument.
After a long moment, the lock clicked open.
Kristine stepped out onto the street.
The light was harsh and disorienting, but she walked toward Colton without hesitation, one step at a time. In the past, she had chased after him with the helpless pull of a moth toward flame. This was nothing like that. She felt no love, no hope, no longing. What she carried now was something older and heavier — a quiet, settled anger.
She stopped a few feet away from him and looked at him with a face that gave nothing away.
“Colton,” she said.
He stared back at her.
He had expected rage to take over the moment he saw her — a fury so hot it would obliterate everything else. But looking at how pale and still she was, the rage fractured, and something sharp and unwelcome moved in beneath it.
He held her gaze for a long time before he spoke. “Are you done p>
Kristine looked at him as though she didn’t follow.
“You’ve gotten very good at this,” he said, his voice hardening. “You staged all of it just to force my hand into marriage, didn’t you p>