My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 967

Yet Andrew Lane didn’t seem the least bit amused.

Emily Blair slid off her barstool and stood tall. “Mr. Lane, I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

Either Andrew Lane was utterly lacking in social awareness, or he simply didn’t care about anyone else.

Whatever the reason, he was completely set in his ways.

He said, “I’m not sure I know myself.”

Anger surged in Emily’s chest. For a second, she seriously considered throwing her drink in his face.

Her voice was icy. “Mr. Lane, this isn’t funny. Please stop.”

Andrew Lane looked at her in silence for a moment before he answered, slowly, “I’m not joking.”

Emily forced herself to take several deep breaths, struggling to tamp down the urge to lash out.

After all, Andrew Lane had just helped her. She could at least show a modicum of civility.

She glared at him for a few seconds, then turned to leave.

His voice followed her. “Are you upset?”

Of course she was upset.

The sound of his voice only made her walk faster.

She didn’t have the patience to wait for the elevator, so she took the stairs instead, her footsteps quick and sharp.

When she reached the main lobby of the resort, the sight of a cluster of mewling kittens finally began to cool the storm inside her.

Emily stood there for a while, mind blank, until one of the kittens wandered over and brushed against her ankle, pulling her gently back to herself.

She couldn’t stay here—if she did, she might run into Andrew Lane again.

The resort was huge; you couldn’t get anywhere without one of the shuttles.

Emily asked a staff member to bring the car around and drive her back to her assigned villa.

Dusk settled, and night crept in, darkening the sky.

The shuttle was open on all sides, and the evening breeze washed over her face, helping her collect her thoughts.

She replayed her conversation with Andrew Lane in her head.

The very idea was absurd.

Was she supposed to believe that all his insults, all his bullying, had just been some warped expression of affection?

What a joke.

Only a fool would fall for that lie.

Everything Andrew Lane said now sounded like a cruel farce, like he was toying with a wounded dog he’d already kicked one too many times.

His sudden kindness, his concern, was nothing but another way to mock her helplessness.

It was just another layer of cruelty, another reminder that she would never escape his grasp.

To Emily, every word, every gesture from Andrew Lane felt like a deeper, sharper taunt.

As if, in his eyes, she was still that powerless girl—easy to ridicule, easy to break, and so desperate for scraps of affection that she’d come running the moment he offered any.

See? No matter how much time has passed, no matter how much you pretend not to care, no matter how free you think you are, just a few words from me and you’re rattled. You’re still caught in the palm of my hand, still trapped, even as you kid yourself that you’ve gotten away.

You never left. You’re still right where I want you.