Page 49 of Temporary Vows

He taps the ledger with one thick finger, each tap a little gunshot in the quiet room. “Clock resets. Penalties stack.” He smiles again, all teeth.

“I can’t get that kind of money all at once. You know I can’t.”

“That sounds like a you problem.” Marcus sounds almost bored. “I’m telling you whatIwant.”

“Marcus, there’s no way—” My voice breaks on the last word.

He stands, and the door behind me shuts. Scarface gets closer, so the two men block me in.

Ice sluices through my veins, and I feel trapped again. I think fast about how I can get myself out of this.

“What if I can get you sixty thousand?”

Marcus leans in, strong cologne and stale cigar smoke rolling off him. “Take your phone out.”

“My phone?”

“You’re going to transfer sixty thousand into my account right now.”

With shaking hands, I take my phone out of my bag. I’m not even worried about looking weak anymore. I find my bank app, and within a minute, I have the money—all of it—wired to Marcus’ account, leaving me with the measly ten bucks I previously had.

I show him the screen displaying the transaction, and he nods, but the flinty look in his eyes tells me he’s just getting started.

“Now it’s time to show you what happens when you cross Marcus Reiner.”

His words barely register before his arm swings.

The back of his hand connects with my cheek in a crack that explodes inside my skull.

I scream.

White light bursts behind my eyes. Fire streaks across my face, sharp and blinding, and my head whips to the side so hard my neck screams.

The room shifts. My ears ring. For a heartbeat, I’m not sure where the floor is, then my knees give out and it rushes up tomeet me. I hit the carpet on my hands first, then my hip, breath tearing out of my lungs as the sting in my cheek blooms into a throbbing, molten ache.

Scarface grabs me. Panic grips me, and I try to wriggle out of his grasp. But he’s too strong.

It takes nothing for him to pin me down.

“Please, no.” The plea shudders out of me before I can stop it.

While Marcus looms over me, Scarface gazes at me as if considering a selection of dessert.

“She said please. Why don’t you answer?” Marcus taunts.

Scarface lands a punch in the middle of my face, and I swear I black out for a few seconds. I feel like I’ve been shoved into a vacuum of pain, disconnected from my body yet still there.

“Now, here’s how this is gonna go.” Marcus plants a heavy boot on my stomach and glares down at me. “You have twenty-four hours to give me my money. Don’t even think about running. If you do, I will find you and kill you and your little friend you’ve been staying with… Skylar.”

Ice crawls through my veins at the sound of Skylar’s name.

“Please, no. Leave her out of this.”

His boot digs in, and air whooshes out of me in a broken gasp.

Marcus’ smile hardens into something deadly. “Then you better get creative, Elodie Harper. If I don’t have my money in twenty-four hours, you’ll see what happens when Ireallyget angry. Get out of here.”

The instant Scarface loosens his hold on my arms, I scramble to my feet, then run out of the office, tears streaming down my cheeks. The sound of their taunting laughter follows me, but I keep going, fear driving me forward.