Chapter 139
SOPHIA’S POV
I looked down at my phone. My stomach dropped when I saw Damien’s name on the caller ID.
“Hello?” I answered, shooting a warning glance at Zade to stay quiet.
“Sophia, where are you?” Damien’s voice was cold. “George asked me to come pick you up. Are you still at the Riverside Hotel p>
I glanced at Zade, who was watching me with an expression that looked like betrayal. His jaw was clenched. His amber eyes were filled with something that might have been hurt or anger or both.
“Yes, I’m still here,” I said into the phone
“Stay there. I’m pulling up now.” There was a pause. “Are you alone p>
The question made my wolf growl “That’s none of your concern anymore p>
“Sophia p>
“I’ll be right out.” I hung up before he could argue, shoving my phone back into my pocket.
Zade took a long drag from his cigarette.
“Running back to him already?” His voice was cold.
” I’m not running back to him. George asked him to pick me up.” I moved toward the garden path. “Thank you for the… conversation. But I need to go p>
Before Zade could say anything, I turned and walked away quickly. My heart pounded.
I made my way back toward the hotel, planning to meet Damien at the front entrance. But as I got closer, I noticed something was wrong.
The music had stopped. And the noise coming from inside wasn’t the cheerful sounds of a cocktail party. It was screaming.
My wolf went on high alert. I ran, reaching the back entrance to the ballroom just as someone crashed through the French doors. The glass shattered everywhere.
I ducked behind a pillar and looked inside. My blood turned cold at what I saw.
The elegant ballroom had been transformed into chaos. Tables were overturned, champagne flutes shattered across the marble floor, decorations were torn down. People were screaming, running for the exits, pushing past each other in panic.
And in the center of it all was the man from earlier – the one who’d tried to touch Dahlia.
But now he wasn’t trying to be subtle. He was wielding a machete, swinging it wildly as he shouted something I couldn’t make out over the screams.
My enhanced wolf hearing caught fragments: “-teach that bitch-” “-think she can humiliate me-” “-show her p>
He was looking for someone, looking for me.
I’d humiliated him in front of all these people by publicly stopping his assault on Dahlia. And now he’d snapped, coming back with a weapon to exact revenge.
I needed to get security, needed to call the police, needed to-
Movement on the staircase caught my eye.
Tiffany was descending the stairs, completely unaware of what was happening below. She was on her phone, smiling at something. She was dressed in a beautiful silver gown that shimmered under the chandeliers.
What was she doing here? Had she been at this party the whole time?
The man with the machete stopped his rampage. His head snapped toward the staircase, toward Tiffany.
And for some reason, maybe because she was a woman alone, maybe because she looked vulnerable, maybe just because she was there, he charged toward her instead.
“You!” he screamed. “All you bitches are the same p>
Tiffany looked up, saw him coming, and went absolutely white. She dropped her phone and screamed.
“Damien!” she shrieked. “Damien, help me p>
A door on the second floor opened. Damien appeared, taking in the scene below with alpha speed.
Without hesitation, Damien grabbed something heavy from the hallway. It looked like a decorative vase. He threw it down toward the attacker.
His aim was good, but not perfect. The vase moved past the man and crashed into the doorframe near where I was hiding, shattering and forcing the door to swing wide open.
Exposing me completely.
The man’s head turned around and our eyes met.
I saw the moment he recognized me. He looked even more annoyed at the sight of me.
“You!” he roared, raising the machete. “This is your fault! All of this p>
Time seemed to slow down.
I saw him running toward me. I saw the blade catching the moonlight. Behind him, I could see Damien on the second floor. His expression shifted from relief that Tiffany was safe to horror as he realized I was in danger.
I ran.
My wolf’s instincts took over, and I ran toward the backyard, away from the crowd, away from the potential for more innocent people to get hurt.
Behind me, I could hear heavy footsteps pounding, getting closer. The man was faster than he looked.
“I’m going to kill you!” he screamed. “I’m going to cut you into pieces p>
I pushed harder. I felt my lungs burning. My professional shoes made it difficult to run on the manicured grass.
The gazebo where I’d talked with Dahlia was ahead if I could just reach it, maybe I could-
Something flew through the air near my head. It was a knife. He’d swung and missed by inches.
Too close. He was too close.
Oh no.