Chapter 3

Vic's fingers slowly loosened around my throat.

I collapsed back against the chair, coughing so hard my chest burned. He stood there in silence for a moment.

"Fine, Eve. I'll trust you this one time." He straightened his suit. "Chloe, take her to the villa halfway up the hill. Clean her up. I'm not letting her show up looking like this and ruin my plans. I'm going to the marina myself to catch up with Mr. Vance."

Vic turned and hurried out, leaving just Chloe and me in the basement.

She grabbed me by the hair and yanked me up from the chair.

"Move, Princess Rockwood." She leaned in close to my ear. "Do you really think Vic buys your bullshit? A bitch like you—born with a trust fund, handed everything without lifting a finger—what makes you think you still get a comeback?"

She shoved me out through the basement side door.

"You think you're still going to throw yourself at Mr. Alvin Vance?" Chloe suddenly jammed something hard and cold against my lower back. "Didn't you hear what he said on the phone? He can't stand women like you—spoiled rich girls who think the world belongs to them. If he sees you shamelessly crawling after him, he'll probably be disgusted with women for the rest of his life."

"Chloe, what are you planning?" I forced myself to stay calm.

"What am I planning? I'm sending you straight to hell." She gave me a hard shove. "Get those ropes off your ankles and start walking. Don't worry—your body can rot out here in these woods, and even Vic will never know where you went."

When I stepped over a fallen branch, I deliberately let my foot give out and crashed to the ground.

"Get up! Don't play dead with me!" Chloe jabbed the barrel of the gun into my shoulder.

Curled up on the ground, using the darkness as cover, I felt around until my fingers closed over a broken rock with a razor-sharp edge. I clenched it tight and pretended to sob in pain. "I twisted my ankle... Chloe, please. For the sake of our friendship—what we used to be..."

"Friendship? Fuck that!" Chloe let out a shrill, crazed laugh. "Now go to hell!"

Bang!

A gunshot exploded through the trees. The bullet grazed my cheek and buried itself in the dirt beside me.

"Ah!" I screamed, making it sound panicked.

Chloe burst out laughing. "Look at you, down on your knees begging like a pathetic loser!" She fired twice more, wild with excitement. "Bang! Bang!" The bullets slammed into the tree trunks beside me, spraying bark everywhere. "Where's that stuck-up Eve now? Wet yourself yet, Miss Rockwood?"

While she was lost in the thrill of tormenting me, I was sawing frantically through the nylon rope around my wrists with the jagged stone.

The instant she raised the gun for the kill shot, I sprang up and slammed straight into her stomach.

"You bitch—" she screamed as I tackled her to the ground. The gun went flying out of her hand.

I lunged for it, grabbed it, and spun around to aim at her.

"Go to hell, Chloe!" I pulled the trigger.

Click.

The slide had locked back.

Damn it. She'd already emptied the magazine.

Chloe pushed herself off the ground with a cold smile. She pulled a hunting knife from her boot and started toward me, one slow step at a time. "Looks like even God isn't on your side, Eve."

I threw down the useless gun and ran as fast as I could into the fir forest.

I burst through the trees into the open—then stopped dead.

There was nowhere left to go.

A cliff. Below it, the open sea churned black beneath the night sky.

No way out.

And then, in that moment of pure desperation, I saw a luxury yacht slowly leaving the bay. On the upper deck stood a tall figure in a dark suit. Even through the wind and darkness, I would have known that black hair and those broad shoulders anywhere.

Alvin.

His words from the phone flashed through my mind—The women I can't stand most in this world are spoiled rich girls who think they're above everyone else

"Run, Eve. Why'd you stop?" Chloe came closer with the knife, grinning like a madwoman.

I stood at the edge of the cliff. In front of me was her blade. Below me was the abyss.

But I would not die in a place like this. And I sure as hell wouldn't die by Chloe's hand.

I looked once at the bottomless dark of the ocean below, closed my eyes, and jumped.

For one weightless instant, my body dropped through the void.

Then I opened my eyes.

Through the roaring wind, I caught a glimpse of the dark-haired man on the yacht suddenly turning his head. His gaze cut through the night and locked directly onto the cliff I was falling from.