Rejected Heiress, Reigning Queen novel Chapter 141

Emma Lockwood jumped from the moving car.

Before the vehicle could pick up full speed, she kicked off her heels and threw herself out the door.

Her body slammed hard against the metal guardrail.

Almost immediately, a dozen shadowy figures sprinted after her.

She had no choice but to vault over the barrier and plunge into the dense, steep woods of the ravine.

"She got away! What do we do?"

A group of men crowded the edge of the guardrail. Even though the deafening crunch of a car crash echoed not far away, none of them bothered to look.

"Get down there and find her. None of us are getting paid if she doesn't end up dead."

The men scrambled down the slope, their boots kicking up dirt. Just a short distance away, Emma's heart plummeted into her stomach.

She forced herself to stay perfectly calm, desperately trying to recall the geographical layout she had memorized the last time she drove this route.

Even knowing her location was compromised, she blindly scrambled eastward.

"She's heading uphill! A little further and she'll hit the crash site we staged. I think this is near the racing track. A wreck that massive is going to draw attention and someone will call the cops. If we don't catch her now, we have to pull out."

One of the men chasing Emma barked the warning to the others.

"Fall back."

Emma caught the sound of their retreat. Despite the utter exhaustion sinking into her bones, she didn't stop moving.

She waited another agonizing ten minutes. Only when she was certain the woods were silent did she begin to climb toward the upper road.

Following the acrid stench of burning rubber, Emma clawed her way to the shoulder of the highway.

Carter Harrington stood motionless in front of an overturned semi-truck, his eyes locked on the flattened sedan crushed beneath its massive weight.

Emma grabbed the guardrail, her legs giving out as she collapsed against the metal, panting heavily.

"Stop standing there shaking. I don't have the energy to come to you."

Her weak, raspy voice sliced through the air like an angelic melody, instantly snapping Carter's shattered sanity back into place.

He whipped around in disbelief, his eyes widening with unfiltered shock and a hesitant, overwhelming joy.

"You... you..."

Carter closed the distance in a dead sprint, pulling her effortlessly over the barrier.

"Ah, my shoulder."

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