Page 123 of Adam
That’s when I notice the knife in his other hand. It’s clean. Impossibly so.
Something about that doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t get to do this without explaining himself first.
I wrench my arm free. “No. You’re covered in blood,” I say, my voice shaking. “What happened?”
“Listen to me,” he snaps. “We have to get the fuck out of here. Now.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where we’re going—and why the alarm is on.”
“Because they’re after me, goddamn it,” he shouts, unnaturally loud for him.
“Why?”
He exhales hard, already out of patience. “Do you trust me or not?”
“Yes, but?—”
“Then move,” he cuts in. “Stop thinking and come with me.”
“No—”
“Christ,” he growls. “You are the most stubborn fucking woman I’ve ever met.”
He slips the blade between his teeth, bends down, and grabs me before I can react, hauling me up and throwing me effortlessly over his shoulder.
Time is running out.
When the alarm goes off, the place locks down in two minutes, and then my father will find him and kill him.
And there’s no way I’ll let that happen.
“Let me go!” I struggle, pounding against his back.
“I will,” he says around the knife. “Right after we’re the fuck out of here.”
As we move through the corridor, Dad’s employees are running in every direction, panicked and shouting, and the sirens seem louder now.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To the garage. We’re taking one of your daddy’s bikes,” he says without slowing down.
“Put me down. I can walk. I’ll follow you.”
He stops just long enough to glance at me, his grip tightening. “Should I trust you not to freeze up or do something stupid?”
“Yes.”
He scoffs, but he sets me down anyway. Then he grabs my wrist—hard—and takes off running again. “Don’t make me regret it.”
“Isabella?” my mother breathes, her eyes wide with panic. “What the hell did you do?”
The accusation hits before I can even process it. Unbelievable.
“Idid something?” I snap, my voice rising.
Adam’s grip loosens, then disappears entirely, and he’s already moving without glancing at me. He’s marching straight toward her like a predator who’s found his next prey.
It feels like whatever he’s about to do, there won’t be a way to undo it.
