Falling For My Ex's Dad (Clarissa and Gabriel) novel Chapter 301

Clairessa’s POV

“Nowhere,” I lied, because anything else might make him beat the shit out of me.

He didn’t buy it. His fingers found a fistful of my hair and jerked my face up until my head spun. His eyes were two coals. He grinned like he enjoyed the brokenness on my face.

“Don’t try anything stupid,” he warned. “Or I swear I’ll end you, and everything you’re carrying inside that fragile little body of yours.”

I simply nodded and then he let me go.

He barked orders, his voice cutting through the room. “We move through the back hallway. Clear this place out. You two, move it now.”

Draco and Connor, the taller men, nodded and melted into the darkness. Marco turned to Nicole like a captain to a cowardly officer. “You, get in front. Now. Move.”

Nicole’s lips pressed into a thin line. She looked pale and shaken, and for the first time since this began I saw fear on her face. She obeyed, walking ahead like someone who had been given no choice.

“Your turn.” Marco shoved me forward, the edge of his gun pressing hard into my back.

We began to walk. My wrists ached where the rope had bitten into them, so I massaged the raw skin as I went, trying to rub feeling back into my palms. My legs were jelly and shaky. Every step felt like moving through water.

My eyes scanned the hallway, desperate for a door, a corner, anything I could use to slip away. But the corridor stretched long and dim, walls bare with no exits.

When we reached the far end of the hallway, the hope I’d been holding onto suddenly damped.

At the far end stood a set of heavy garage doors, the kind you had to drag up from the bottom. Marco jerked his chin toward Nicole.

“Open it,” he ordered.

Nicole looked back, hands trembling. “I don’t think I….”

Marco’s face twisted. “Open it, or I’ll change my mind and put a bullet in you.”

Terrified, she staggered forward, bent down, and tried to heave the door up. The metal groaned, but it barely budged. Her arms shook with the effort, sweat shining on her brow.

“You useless bitch,” he muttered, then gave me a look that was all warning as he hauled me to the door, pressing his gun harder into my side. But as he reached to grab the bottom edge himself, the barrel slipped away from me.

The second he dragged the door open, blinding red and blue lights flooded the space. Police cars surrounded the building, sirens blaring, officers crouched behind vehicles with rifles aimed straight at us.

For one breathless second I nearly collapsed with relief. My heart leapt, Gabriel, Adrian, it had to be one of them. They must have found me. My eyes darted through the swarm of uniforms, desperate for a familiar face. But all I saw were strangers in dark gear, weapons trained.

Marco cursed, trying to slam the door halfway back as if to close us off, but it was already too late. Officers swarmed the entrance, shouts ordering hands up.

In a reflex born of panic and cruelty, Marco lunged, jerking me forward and planting the barrel of his gun against my temple, holding me like a shield.

“You move and she dies,” he snarled at the nearest officer, voice low and hard. “You come close and I pull the trigger.”

“Marco, please,” Nicole’s voice was filled with complete fear. She lifted her hands. “Let’s just surrender. We’ve been caught.”

From behind the police line, a man in uniform called out, voice firm. “She’s right, Marco.” He raised a hand in what he hoped was a calming gesture. “You need to surrender. Put the weapon down and no one gets hurt.”

Marco laughed, ugly and tight. “You think I’m going to hand her over to you? Never.” He tightened his grip on me, the gun’s cold steel pressing against my skin. “One wrong step and she’s gone.”

“All right then,” Marco hissed. “Come closer.”

Gabriel moved forward, slow, controlled. My chest heaved, my whole body shaking, watching him close the distance. Every muscle in me screamed in fear, fear for him, fear for us. One wrong move and Gabriel would take the bullet meant for me.

And then Marco’s grip loosened, just a fraction. But it was enough.

Before I could think, I slammed my heel down, twisted hard, and drove my knee between his legs. His strangled curse tore through the air as his body lurched forward. I broke free, stumbling, trying to run.

“Clairessa, no!” Gabriel’s voice thundered, but it was too late.

The gun went off.

Once.

Twice.

A sharp, searing pain exploded through my arm, stealing the air from my lungs. My scream caught, strangled inside me as my chest tightened. My vision blurred.

But through the haze, Gabriel’s face was the last thing I found, his eyes wide, horror carved into every line. His mouth moved, shouting something I couldn’t hear over the ringing in my ears.

I wanted to tell him everything at once, to tell him about the baby, to tell him how sorry I was for sneaking away, to tell him how much I needed him. I could only manage a broken whisper.

“Gabriel… I love … you.”

The floor tilted beneath me, the world sliding sideways. My knees buckled, and I stumbled, falling as the darkness took over.