Please Come Back, My Love novel Chapter 198

Chapter 198

Victoria: POV

That bitch was out there celebrating while sat here with broken bones and a shattered future, waiting for drawn to bring my final reckoning.

I won’t let her have her way.

The clock on my nightstand read 6:47 AM.

Two hours and thirteen minutes until I had to face Julian Sterling and whatever hell Adrian had prepared for me in that office.

My broken hand throbbed with each heartbeat, the makeshift splint Dr. Harrison had applied doing nothing to stop the bones from grifiding together

whenever I moved.

Even breathing hurt-my ribs screamed with every shallow inhale, reminding me that Catherine’s hired thug had done his job well.

I forced myself upright, biting down on a scream as the movement sent fresh waves of agony through my torso.

The Chanel dress I’d worn to yesterday’s lunch was stiff with dried blood, the fabric clinging to the cuts on my side.

I needed to change.

Needed to look like I hadn’t spent the night bleeding and terrified in my own apartment.

But what’s the point? The thought slithered through my exhausted mind.

They already know everything. Julian knows. Looking put-together won’t change the fact that I’m fucked.

Still, I dragged myself to the closet, each step an exercise in controlled agony.

My reflection in the full-length mirror stopped me cold.

Purple shadows under my eyes made me look like I’d aged a decade overnight.

My right hand, swollen to twice its normal size and bent at unnatural angles beneath the splint, looked like something from a horror film.

The bruises spreading from my abdomen to my ribs created a grotesque map of violence across my skin.

This is what happens when you lose, I thought, gripping the closet door with my good hand.

This is what happens when the mask finally falls off.

I pulled out a navy Armani suit-conservative, professional, the kind of thing you wore when you needed to project confidence you didn’t feel.

Getting dressed was torture.

Every movement of my arm sent lightning bolts of pain through my broken fingers.

I had to leave the blouse partially unbuttoned because I couldn’t manage the fastenings with one hand.

3/3

1:31 pm

Chapter 198

PP

The blazer hung awkwardly, unable to properly accommodate the bulk of the splint.

By the time I’d finished, I was shaking with rain and exhaustion.

I swallowed two of the Tylenol Dr. Harrison had left-not enough to actually help, but a!! I dared take while needing to stay sharp-and forced myself to

look at my phone.

Seventeen missed calls. All from unknown numbers.

Three voicemails I couldn’t bring myself to listen to.

And one text message from Julian, timestamped 3:42 AM: [Don’t even think about running. I’ll know.]

The threat was clear.

He had people watching.

Probably had someone stationed outside my building right now, ready to follow if I tried to disappear.

Adrian had frozen my accounts, tracked my crypto, cut off every escape route I’d spent years preparing.

They’d boxed me in completely, ensuring I had nowhere to go except that office.

My laptop sat on the nightstand, still open from when I’d frantically checked my accounts last night.

I pulled it closer with my good hand, wincing as the movement jarred my broken fingers.

Maybe there was something I’d missed.

Some account Adrian hadn’t found, some asset I could liquidate fast enough to buy myself a few days, a week, enough time to-

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