Page 91 of The Marriage Mistake

And he brought me along with him.

I stumbled as he dragged me, screaming as I spun in a circle. He snarled, trying to yank his arm away and only succeeding in pulling me back to my feet and launching me forward like we were doing some twisted ballroom dance.

Distantly, I heard shouts. Jack screamed my name again.

I couldn’t focus on it, because I was being tossed around like a ragdoll, and I didn’t want to let go of the bastard who’d vandalized my husband’s cameras and thrown a brick through our window. He didn’t get to do that to Jack. To us. He yanked his arm again, and this time I was ready. I used the tug to leap up like a monkey, landing on his back and clinging to him as hard as I could. He smelled like unwashed hair and cigarettes. I gagged.

“Off!” he yelled, twisting back and forth for a beat before catching sight of the rest of his pursuers. He took one look at the room we’d exited, then grabbed my legs to hold me piggy-back style and started sprinting toward the big lawn and the forest beyond.

“Hey!” I screamed, bonking him on the head with my fist like I was playing some weird version of Whack-a-Mole.

“Stop that!” Spider tried to throw me sideways, but I clung on and he just stumbled.

“Drop her!” Jack boomed behind us. He didn’t sound far, and I chanced a look backward to see Jack closing in on us.

“I’m fuckin’ trying!” the man screamed, throwing me to the other side. He put more oomph in it, but that was a mistake. I kept my legs wrapped around his waist like a vise and didn’t let go until sharp fingernails dug into my arm to try to pry it off.

I screamed, flailed, and somehow managed to connect my elbow with the side of his head. He went down hard. We landed at the same time as a teeth-rattling peal of thunder. The rain grew heavier, soaking me as I rolled in the grass and tried to catch the breath that the fall had knocked out of me. I leaned my cheek on the wet grass and smelled its fresh, earthy scent, my gaze slowly focusing on the dark lump of human lying immobile at my side.

Jack was there a second later, his warm palm on my back, on my cheek, on my head, his eyes wide in the darkness. The light from the house illuminated the side of his face, carving out his beautiful features in light and shadow.

“Ember,” he said. “Are you hurt? What were you thinking? Don’t move. I need to check you for injuries.”

“I’m fine,” I said, lying on the wet ground, feeling the rain soak me. My poor dress! I’d ruined the most beautiful item of clothing I owned. Sadie would never forgive me. There was more lightning. A long rumble of thunder rolled in the distance, sounding slightly further away than the last one.

“You were supposed to get out of the way,” Jack clipped, his hands sliding over my body in an efficient manner, evidently looking for broken bones.

I rolled up to a seated position and looked at the guy who’d gone down beside me. Suddenly, I was nauseous. “Um. Jack?”

“I told you not to move,” he growled, checking my neck before tilting my head up so he could look in my eyes. He had to get close, because it was dark this far from the house. I could feel his breath on my cheeks. “Pupils are the same size. What were you thinking, Ember?”

“I wasn’t,” I answered, gaze sliding back to the man. “Thinking, that is.” I gulped and asked the question that had been clanging around my brain since we’d hit the ground: “Is he dead?”

The man chose that moment to groan, his hands sliding along the soaked grass below his shoulders so he could lift himself up.

Jack’s foot landed in the middle of his back, and he collapsed back on the ground with an oof. “No,” my husband answered me. “Unfortunately.”

“I think it’s a good thing, actually,” I answered. “I don’t want to go to prison.”

More men ran up to us, four of whom wore the Marswood Security uniform. I recognized Bennett and Knox in the group. A bit further behind them, a staff member jogged along holding an umbrella over Oren’s head.

“What the hell is going on?” the billionaire demanded.

Jack ignored Oren and snarled at Spider, who was in plasticuffs and being hauled to his feet by Knox and one other. “Who paid you?”

Spider laughed.

“Talk, asshole.”

Spider shook his head. “Can’t do that, unfortunately.”

“Who paid you to harass us?”

The biker grinned at Jack, then looked at me. He winked.

Jack looked like he was getting ready to punch him, but Bennett pushed him back. Jack growled, and Bennett said, “Look after your wife. We’ve got this.”

Jack spun. He picked me up like I weighed nothing and turned to Oren. “My wife needs medical attention.”