Ninety-Nine Times, Then No More

I recognized him from a news article I'd read. He lunged toward our table, and June screa

oared, his eyes wild. He rai

It was her! She told me to steal your

d eyes shifted

unge, the cafe door flew

took in the scene in a second-the crazed

cond, I saw something flicker in

out, cold and clear. "If you're going to throw tha

rds hit me like

whispered frantically from behind me, "He doesn't mean it! He

ng me to save her. He was painting me as

attacker, but his words were a performance for the other man'

"She was just a game. A distraction. You don't re

were locked on mine. Every word was a po

"She's different. She's my wife. The heiress to the Carrillo fortune. Sh

crucial board meeting. The time I sold my mother's favorite necklace to anonymously buy back shares in his company when a rival tried a h

And he was using them now, twisting them into weapons to destroy me. He was laying my

This was it. This was the one-hundredth cut. The one that severed the last thread of feeling I had

words, let out a frustrated scream and lunged,

A stupid, leftover reflex.

of his face. He cried out in agony, a raw, guttural sound of pure pa

d beaded with sweat. I reached for him, my hand

e one who had burned him. He looked at me, his

ace a mask of concern. "Chase!

completely, and started to lead him out of

didn't ask if I was okay. He didn't even look a

burnt fabric and acid stinging my nostrils. I looked down at my

ft was a vast,

t. He had taken the most vulnerable parts of me and held them up for

. It was funny, really. I had sp

I was fin