Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 38

Living next door to Randal was already a total nightmare. Now she was supposed to act as his personal chauffeur?

"Oh, come on, don't be like that!" Miles scrambled to block her path. "You don't have a car, but I do! Just drive my car to drop him off, and I'll catch a cab."

Willa turned back to Miles, staring at him as if he had just suffered a severe head injury. "Why doesn't he just take a cab?"

Miles choked on his words. His mouth twitched, and his acting somehow became even worse.

"Just look at his hand! It's wrapped in gauze. The doctor practically begged him not to use it. If he takes a cab and there's some kind of emergency, he could rip the stitches right open! What then? I'm just looking out for his health!"

Hearing this, Willa's gaze drifted to Randal's left hand, her lips pressing into a thin line.

Every ounce of logic she possessed was screaming at her to refuse, to completely cut all ties with this man.

A man like Randal had unlimited resources to solve a minor transportation issue.

Yet, she couldn't erase the fact that if he hadn't saved her on that mountain, she never would have made it back in one piece.

"Fine. Consider this payback for the other day." Willa gritted her teeth and held her hand out to Miles. "Keys."

Miles's eyes lit up like Christmas. He instantly slapped the keys into her palm, grinning eagerly. "I owe you my life! I'm definitely taking you out for dinner to make up for this."

With that, he winked enthusiastically at Randal, wearing a smug 'you're welcome' expression.

To his shock, Randal's perpetually expressionless face darkened into a menacing scowl. "Who told you to take her to dinner?"

Miles's smile shattered. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I was... just being polite?"

"Don't be," Randal snapped. "Are the two of you that close?"

Miles was left completely speechless, all traces of amusement wiped from his face as a flurry of panicked expressions cycled through his eyes.

Defeated, he let out a long sigh and sprinted out of the alley to hail a cab.

Randal yanked open the passenger door, his long legs sliding gracefully into the seat. He turned, shooting Willa an impatient look through the window, silently demanding she hurry up.

But she knew damn well he hadn't done it out of the goodness of his heart.

"What do you want?"

Randal opened his eyes and turned to her. A fleeting flash of shock ripped through his gaze before his brow furrowed in sudden, intense fury. When he spoke, his voice was laced with pure venom. "What do you think I want?"

Before she could answer, his tone dropped into a freezing sneer. "If you're so desperate to clear your debts, then pay me back those millions of dollars."

For a split second, Willa seriously considered driving the car straight into the nearest river and ending it all.

She wrestled her murderous rage into submission. "Do you just have money to burn, Randal? I wouldn't have spent a single dime to kick them out! Did I ask you to blow millions of dollars on my behalf?"

"That's not my problem. You pay me back those millions, and then we're even." Randal's lips curled into a wicked, predatory smirk as he leaned across the center console, his fingertips lightly grazing her cheek.

"Or, you break up with Zack, and come back to me."