The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 136

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Chapter 79-2

“I’ll scream.”

“You don’t have the energy.

“Then I’ll throw something” I say. “Something heavy and directly at Locke’s head.”

I

“Now, that I believe. I also approve.”

She leaves the door open behind her, and I hear her footsteps descend the stairs. A pause, low voices, then another set of footsteps begins climbing. And Locke appears in the doorway.

He looks worse than I expected. His clothes are clean, his face freshly shaved, but exhaustion sits deep around his eyes. There’s snow on the shoulders of his coat, dark spots that melt slowly through the fabric.

He stops when he sees me. His gaze moves over my face, the water beside the bed, the bucket on the

floor.

“How bad?” he rasps.

The question is so quietly Locke that my chest hurts.

“Manageable,” I say.

“That bad, then.”

I look away.

“Can I come in?” he says.

“You’re already halfway inside.”

“I can leave, if you want me to.”

I turn back to him, and I see that he means it. That respect shouldn’t matter as much as it does.

“Come in.”

Locke steps into the room and closes the door until only a narrow gap remains. He looks at me.

“How are you, Zara?”

“You already asked me that.”

“No,” he said. “I asked how bad.”

“Same answer.”

“So… manageable?”

“Yes.”

He nods. I know he doesn’t believe me, and the silence stretches between us. Usually, Locke knows how

Chapter 79-2

to occupy silence. He wears it well, makes it seem deliberate. Today, it looks heavy on him.

“What happened?” I ask. “Why are you here?”

His eyes lift to mine: “To tell you that you were right.”

I go still. “About what?”

“Willow.”

My fingers curl into the quilt. “What did she do?”

“Cobra called me to the clubhouse this morning.” Locke looks down at his tattooed hands. “Willow stopped me before I went inside. She gave me a bracelet, and said it was for protection.”

“That does sound like her,” I admit. “She’s really into energy.”

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“Yes.” His jaw tightens. “Then she said I’d need it because the universe tests soulmates before it lets them be together.”

For a moment, I don’t understand, then I do, and the breath leaves my body.

“She called you her soulmate?”

“Yes.”

I look away. The snow falls softly against the window, and a strange mix of emotions moves through me. Vindication first, sharp and bright. Then pain, because I was right… but some part of me had still hoped that I wasn’t.

“What did you say to her?”

“That she’d misunderstood.”

“And?”

“She said she understood perfectly.” Locke shifts on his feet. “I told her that I’m with you, that I care about you. The end.”

“But I’m guessing it’s not the end, right?” I say. “If it were, you wouldn’t be here with that look on your face. So what’s wrong?”

“She believes that you led me to her,” he says reluctantly. “She thinks your marriage breaking down and us meeting was just setting the stage for her entrance, and for me and her to be together.”

I stare at him. “She said that?”

“Yes, and it terrifies me.” Locke leans forward slightly. “Not because I think she’s dangerous – I don’t know what she is yet – but because she wasn’t flirting for fun. She wasn’t testing boundaries to see what she could get away with.”

“She believes it,” I say, understanding slowly dawning. “She really thinks it’s true.”

“Yes. She does.” He gazes at me, those amazing gray eyes steady. “I told her there’s no future where I choose her.”

Chapter 79-a-

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