Page 123 of Twisted Temptation

I want her to know I am giving her a chance to choose what justice looks like to her.

“He’s not dead,” I say.

She looks confused. “What do you mean? What did you do with him?”

“I brought him back with me. He’s in the basement.”

Her eyes go so wide her brows disappear beneath her fringe. “You brought him … he’s here?”

“Yes.”

All the blood drains from her face.

She walks to the elevator and hits the button.

“Where are you going?”

“I can’t stay here. I have to get as far away from him as possible. You don’t understand what he did.”

“I know what he did.”

“No, you don’t. The things he said. The evil threats he made.” She impatiently stabs the button on the panel. “He’s the kind of evil that gets out of every tight corner. I’m not hanging around for when he does.”

The doors open, and she steps inside.

"Don’t leave.”

“Stop telling me what to do. I’m done with men thinking they can fucking do that.”

Her jaw is locked, her fists are clenched at her sides, and she's barefoot and wearing a T-shirt and those tiny bed shorts she likes. The doors start to close. I shove my hand between them, and they bounce open.

"Let me go," she says.

"Where are you going?"

"Out."

"It's pouring rain."

"I don't care. Just let me go, Dante. For once, just let me have a goddamn voice."

I step back and let the doors close, and she's gone.

I stare at the brushed-steel doors. Then I bolt toward the fire exit and take the stairs down.

I reach the lobby just as she leaves through the front doors of the plaza.

I follow and run through the doors behind her.

Outside, the rain hits me like a wall, and I’m drenched in seconds.

Sunny is twenty feet ahead of me, hurriedly walking through the rain, her shoulders hunched forward, her head down.

"Sunny!"

She doesn't stop.

I close the distance, my hand catching her arm and swinging her around to face me.