“Okay, girls. We don’t have much time. Jonah’s outside with Killian. We’re going to walk out of here together. If we don’t get out of here within five minutes, Killian and Jonah are coming in. And I can promise you, nothing good is going to come of that.”

“No, I don’t want you guys getting involved.” I whisper-yell. “Stewart doesn’t fight fair. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got a weapon.” Holding her shoulders so that she listens to me, I shake my head. “If anything happened to you or the baby, I’d never forgive myself. I sent Blake away for the same reason. This is my fight. Not yours.”

Strangely, considering the circumstance, she smiles. Not an uncomfortable “oh, that’s sweet of you” smile, but a real, happy, all-teeth-and-shining-eyes smile. “I knew it. He said no, but I knew it.”

“Who said what?”

“Blake.”

My stomach flips and trembles, along with my lower lip. “You talked to him? Wait, did he send you?”

Her happy expression falls. “Yes, I talked to him. But no, he didn’t send us. Killian did.”

Her words say everything I need to know. Blake’s giving up on us. He didn’t see through to the heart of me. He bought the lie.

“When did you talk to him? Is he okay?” My words are barely a whisper, and sadness burns behind my nose and eyes.

“We don’t have time. Just grab what you need; only what you need.”

“Raven. Please.”

She exhales and gives me a sad smile. “No, Layla. He’s not okay. Not even close.”

My heart convulses violently in my chest. I suck back my urge to fall to the floor and bawl. “Right. Well, I can’t blame him. I was awful.”

“Where the fuck is my wife, asshole?” The roar of an angry male thunders through the wall.

Raven’s eyes jerk in its direction then move back to us. “Looks like our time’s up.”

I grab Axelle’s hand, and we follow Raven out of the room and down the hall. In the kitchen, Jonah and Stewart are less than a foot apart. They’re staring each other down, shoulders tense, hands fisted.

“Hey, baby. We’re all set,” Raven says to her husband, not even a slight quiver in her voice.

“Take the girls down to the truck. Killer’s waiting.” Jonah gives his order, and I notice he uses Killian’s nickname. Smart move. For all Stewart knows, there could be another UFL heavyweight waiting downstairs.

Hand in hand, we move across the kitchen toward the door. My head is pounding, and my ears are hypersensitive, so I hear him move before I feel it. But it’s too late.

Stewart yanks Axelle and me back and wraps us tight in his arms. “They aren’t going anywhere.”

Jonah advances, his head down, eyebrows low, radiating fury. Stewart’s grip gets tighter. Axelle cries out, but he doesn’t let go.

Jonah moves another step closer. If a fight starts, Axelle and I will be in the middle.

“Jonah, stop. Take Axelle. I’ll stay. It’s okay.”

He freezes and tilts his head. “You’ll stay?”

“Take Axelle. Right, Stewart? Axelle can go. I’ll stay. We can go to the hotel. You and me. Okay?” I’m frantic. My words tumble out in a rush of nerves and determination.

He must be debating because he loosens his hold. I beg him with my eyes. Please let her go.

After everyone leaves, I can stick with my original plan. Piss him off enough to get him to hit me. All it will take is one time, and then he’ll get arrested. It’ll work.

“If you take my kid, I’ll call the police and claim she’s been kidnapped.” He moves us back, deeper into the house.

Dammit! He’s not going to let her go. “Stewart, just for one night. Let her go for tonight, and then tomorrow we can figure things out.

“Nothing to figure out. I’m taking you back to Seattle.”

“Wrong again, dicklick. You’re not taking my woman anywhere.”

Blake.

Every head in the room jerks toward the doorway. A shaky smile pulls at my lips as the shock of seeing him sinks in. Still in his suit pants, he’s ditched his dress shirt and coat. A black, sleeveless undershirt hugs his broad chest and ripped abdomen. He looks like a modern-day knight.

Stewart must be surprised too, as his hold slips and Axelle races to Blake. She throws herself into his arms. He hugs her and kisses the top of her head, not once taking his eyes off Stewart. “Hey, kiddo. Get your ass downstairs. Killer’s worried as shit down there.”

She scurries off, and Jonah has Raven go too. With the knowledge that they’re safe, and away from whatever’s about to go on here, I take my first full breath.

The air around us is electrified with tension. Blake and Jonah stand blocking the only way out, making the room shrink around us.

“Now you” —Blake steps farther into the room—“get your cocksucking hands off my woman.”

“My wife.”

Blake sneers and advances another step. “Did he say wife?” he asks Jonah.

“That’s what I heard.” Jonah’s answer is low and intimidating.

“Huh.” Blake rubs his chin, looking thoughtfully at Stewart. “She doesn’t want you here, but here you are. She wants a divorce, but you’re still married.” His face turns positively murderous. “She doesn’t want to fuck you, but you take her anyway.” His muscles coil tight beneath his skin. “Seems to me, you’re a bad fucking listener.”

A slight tremor runs up Stewart’s side. “You don’t know anything about her.”

“Oh, I think I do,” Blake says, his lips curling back over his teeth. “I know she tastes like sweet vanilla between her legs when she opens them to me willingly. I know she moans so deep when she falls apart in my arms that I can feel it in my dick when I’m inside her, this too she gives me. I know she likes it when I crush her with my weight after I come inside her, her arms and legs wrap around me so tight, I think she’ll break my bones.”

Stewart’s eyes bulge, and his nostrils flare.

Blake moves again, not looking to be anywhere near finished. “But most importantly, I know she’d sacrifice herself and her safety for the people she loves. She’s been doing it her entire life. Throwing herself up like a shield.” His eyes find mine. “It’s time someone did the same for her.”

Tears spill from my eyes, his beautiful words releasing the emotion I’ve been holding back. He understands what I did was to protect him.

He knows that I love him.

“Blake—”

“Ha! You’re dumber than you look, kid. She’s got you fooled.” Stewart’s mouth brushes against my ear. “Don’t you, slut?”

I flinch at his hideous whispered words.

“She’s coming with us,” Jonah states, reminding me he’s still in the room.

“She’s staying with me.” Stewart tugs me back a step into the living room.

“Wrong. You let her go,” Blake says, “or I break both your arms.”

“You think she’s some prize?” Stewart’s voice is louder now, most likely unnerved by his dwindling options. “Guess she didn’t tell you about what a slut she was in high school.”

He’s lying. I was a virgin before Stewart, and he knows it. He’s trying to convince Blake that I’m not worth it.

“Did she tell you? Did the little slut—”

Two hands wrap tightly around his throat. He lets me go and reaches to claw at Blake’s wrists. I stumble away and across the room.

“One more word about my woman being anything other than perfect, I’ll break your fucking neck.”

Jonah closes in but doesn’t make a move to pull them apart.

“Say you hear me, asshole.”

Stewart nods, and Blake shoves him back and releases him. He clutches his throat, catching his breath. “She’s… got you… fooled.”

“Oh yeah, and how’s that?” Blake’s tone is mocking.

Killian, Axelle, and Raven show up in the doorway. They hurry in, but Jonah holds them back with his body, not allowing them close enough to get hurt.

Stewart’s recovered from Blake’s throat constriction, and stands to his full height. “Did she tell you how many guys she slept with the night she got pregnant with Elle?”

“Liar!” My shout fills the room, reverberating off the walls. “Why are you lying?”

“Oh, I’m a liar all right.” Stewart laughs. “But not now. Then.”

He lied… then? Lied about what?

“Oh, come on! Look at me.” He points to his face. “She looks nothing like me.”

The entire room goes still, and my head feels light. Oh my God. My head swivels toward Axelle,who’s wrapped in Raven’s arms. Her face is drained of color.

“Yeah, that’s right. Let it sink in, bitch—”

“Shut the fuck up.” Blake shoves Stewart, sending him back a couple steps. “Don’t say another fucking word.”

A flicker of something calculated passes over Stewart’s face. He looks back and forth between Blake and me. His lips curl into a grin. “Me and the boys had some fun that night. Hottest chick in school, drunk as hell at a party.”

Bile rushes up my throat. I stagger back, bracing my weight against a bookshelf. I don’t want to, but I desperately need to hear what he says next.

Blake shakes with rage, his muscles dancing beneath this skin, ready to unleash. “I warned you. Not another word.”

“Didn’t take much to get her so drunk she passed out. Shit, she probably weighed ninety pounds back then.” Stewart’s laughing and teasing, talking about me but speaking to Blake.

“I told you to shut your—”

“Blake, no. Let him. I want to know.” What happened that night? I remember drinking, and waking up with Stewart. But the in between… could he be telling the truth?

“Mouse, baby.”

I shake my head. “Please.”

“Fuck,” Jonah mumbles from across the room.

“Oh, now you want the truth, huh?” Stewart runs his hand through his hair. “You didn’t seem to care about the truth when your parents were begging me to marry you.”