Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 86

M

My heart almost jumped out of my mouth. And when I turned and lifted my hand to defend myself. I saw who it was.

Moonie.

“What the hell?” I shrieked, pressing a hand to my chest. “Why would you sneak up on me like that?”

She didn’t answer. Her eyes were darting everywhere–down the street, toward the windows of Elgin’s building, over her shoulder like she expected someone to come running out of the dark after her. Her chest was rising too fast.

“You need to let me in,” she said. Her voice was urgent and nothing like the usual sharp–edged tone she used when she was trying to cut me. “We need to talk.”

I almost laughed.

Because, of course, Moonie could appear out of nowhere in the middle of the night, scare me half to death, and still speak to me like I was wasting her time.

“How did you find me?”

“Jace told me you were staying with your friend at this address.” She replied, as if it were obvious, and I was stupid for asking. “Now open the door.”

Speaking of Jace.

I hadn’t answered his calls in days. I hadn’t returned his texts either. I had been so consumed with Oceans that I had pushed everything else to the edges of my mind.

The guilt tried to rise, but I pushed it down.

Not tonight.

I was about to ask why Moonie would want to talk to me, of all people, but she pushed.

“Open the fucking door, stupid!” She bit out.

I sighed, turned back to the door, and forced the key into the lock.

My fingers slipped once.

Moonie scoffed behind me. “Still useless under pressure, I see.”

“Shut up,” I muttered.

Her brows lifted. “Excuse me?”

I ignored her and unlocked the door.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside before she could see how much the words had surprised even me.

Moonie followed immediately and shut the door behind her, her heels clicking against the floor of Elgin’s apartment. Her eyes swept the room.

“Nice place.” she said, but I knew too well it wasn’t a compliment. It felt more like an observation, like she was cataloging everything she saw.

22

O

16:41 Fri, May 22 d

Chapter 86

“Moonie, what is this about?” I folded my arms across my chest.

50

She turned to face me. Her usual mean–girl armor was back in place. The panic had not left her completely, but cruelty had come back to sit on top of it.

Her eyes moved over my face, my clothes, my bare feet.

“The watch.” she said. “Where did you get it?”

My stomach tightened. “What watch?”

Her face hardened. “Don’t play dumb with me. It’s exhausting when you do that innocent thing”

I stared at her, confused and already tired. “Moonie, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The watch I took from your room,” she snapped. “The one you were hiding like it was a family heirloom. Black leather strap. Dark face. Expensive. Where did you get it?”

Something cold was spreading through my chest. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because I asked.” Her voice was hard. “And you’re going to tell me.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Moonie scoffed. “Since when did you grow a spine?”

“Since people like you kept stepping on it.”

Her face changed.

A quick flash of anger passed through her eyes, but it vanished almost immediately. She was too focused tonight to waste time tearing me apart properly.

That scared me.

Moonie always made time to be cruel.

“Where did you get it, Kisarel?” she asked again, in a slower tone. “And don’t lie to me.”

I shook my head. “I can’t.”

“You can’t?” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “What does that even mean? You can’t tell me where you got a stolen watch?”

“It wasn’t stolen.”

“Then where did it come from?”

I pressed my lips together. The memory was buried deep, somewhere I didn’t like to go. The chaos. The pain. The stranger whose face I had never seen. The bullet that had torn through my shoulder and the jacket that had appeared over me like a shield.

“I can’t.” I folded my arms. “It’s not something I talk about. Not to anyone.”

She stared at me like she could not believe I was still refusing her, and still not folding fast enough. It almost gave me strength.

Then she tilted her head, and I saw the exact moment she found the knife.

22

O

THE

16:41 Fri, May 22 M

Chapter 86

She reached into her bag and produced something that made my chest seize immediately

My mother’s necklace.

The Jerob family heirloom.

My heart stopped.

She watched it happen on my face.

I hated her for enjoying it.

“Give me that!” I instinctively reached out for it, but she didn’t even let me touch it.

“Tell me where you got the watch,” she said pleasantly, “and I’ll give you the necklace.”

I looked at her for a long moment.

“Moonie.”

“Don’t make that face. It makes you look even more pathetic.“”

My hands curled at my sides.

I hated her.

I wanted to refuse. God, I wanted to.

50

I wanted to tell her to get out, to take her threats and her fake panic and her poisonous mouth with her. But looking at that necklace burned my eyes.

“Start talking,” she said.

AD

Comment

Send gift

No Ads

22