The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 398

Chapter 195-1

The cold in the warehouse is a living thing, creeping through the soles of my boots and seeping into the marrow of my bones.

Knox paces the perimeter of my chair like a man drunk on cheap spirits. His chest is puffed out, his eyes wide and glossy, with a terrifying, hollow uphoria.

His fingers are trembling, not with fear, but with the frantic, electric rush of a gambler who thinks he’s finally cracked the system, and knows how to beat the house.

“Position it right here,” Becca directs, stepping forward to adjust the phone camera angle. Her cheeks are flushed, a bright, feverish red standing out against her pale foundation. She smooths down the sweater stretched over her rounded stomach, leaning over the screen to check the frame. “Make sure the camera gets her face. Make sure they see the blood on her coat.”

“Oh, they’ll see it,” Knox says. He taps the screen, focusing the lens directly on my swollen cheekbone and split lip. “I want him to look straight into her eyes. I want Locke to see the exact moment his little kingdom falls apart.”

I don’t look at the camera. I keep my chin level, staring through Knox, through Becca, into the shadowed abyss of the rafters above. I measure my breathing, counting the beats of my pulse to keep my nervous system locked down in absolute control.

Four seconds in. Four seconds out.

“Look at her,” Becca says. “Still trying to play the brave little soldier.”

She leans down, her face coming so close to mine.

“You have nothing left, Zara,” Becca hisses. “You thought you were special because you got away. You thought Locke’s cut made you unassailable. But you’re just flesh and bone tied to a piece of rusted metal, carrying a baby that’s going to grow up without a father. Because when Knox is done with him; Locke won’t even be a memory in this city.”

I slowly turn my head, meeting her gaze squarely. My voice is devoid of the terror she’s starving for:

“You’re speaking for a dead man, Becca. Knox is running out of time, running out of money, and he’s using you and that child in your belly as a shield. When the door’s kicked in, he won’t stand in front of you, he won’t protect you. He’ll shove you into the light so he can sprint out the back door. He knows that my father won’t shoot a pregnant woman.”

“Shut up!” Becca snaps, her voice cracking as she recoils, clutching her stomach as if my words were physical blows. “Shut your mouth! He loves me! He chose me over you!”

“He didn’t choose you,” I say gently, the absolute truth of it landing like ice. “He used you because you were easy to fool. Just like he used Willow. Just like he used every person who ever let him into their life.”

impact snaps my head to the side. Blood fills my mouth, warm and coppery, and I choke.

neck. His eyes are blown wide, dark veins tracing his temples. “You don’t get to talk to her like that. You don’t get to talk at all unless i’give you permission. You’re leverage, Zara. Nothing more.”

Knox sneers, wiping his foot against the concrete, but the twitch in his jaw betrays his growing unraveling.

His bluster is high, but the underlying panic is beginning to leak through the cracks. The adrenaline that fuelled his grand speech is starting to curdle into jittery paranoia. He keeps firsking his eyes toward the dark, cavernous corners of the warehouse, listening to every creak of the rusting tin roof.

“Becca, stand over there, out of the shot. I want the focus entirely on Zara.”

1. r.

Becca stumbles back into the shadows, panting heavily, her eyes wide and unhinged as she glares at me from the edge of the light. She pulls her coat tighter around her swollen belly, her posture defensive, but her hands trembling against the fabric.

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