11 Chapter 11
“Get out of the car!” Wright roared. He grabbed Lucia by the arm, dragging her from the seat and throwing her onto the cold asphalt of the driveway.
Lucia screamed as her body slammed against the hard ground. Wright stood over her, his finger trembling with fury as he pointed it at her face..
“Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you talk to my Rannie like that?! You are nothing! A toy for when I’m bored!”
His voice rose with every word. “If I can’t find my wife, you will pay for what you’ve done!”
With that, he stormed back towards the car, his mind consumed with a single thought: find Rannie.
Lucia scrambled to her feet, clawing at the car window. “Wright, you can’t do this to me! I’m pregnant! I’m carrying your child! Our child!”
Wright froze, a strange, unreadable expression crossing his face. “Child… Yes, the child,” he murmured.
A hopeful smile touched Lucia’s pale lips.
But just as she thought he might show some mercy, Wright got out of the car. In her dazed state, she thought for a moment he was coming to help her up.
Instead, he walked to the trunk of the car and retrieved a heavy, crystal globe paperweight from
his briefcase.
Her eyes widened in terror.
Wright’s expression twisted into one of utter revulsion. “Rannie’s child was never even born, you worthless bitch. Why the hell are you carrying my child?”
Lucia tried to back away, but before she could even move, Wright swung the heavy crystal globe, striking her violently in the side of the head.
A scream of pure agony ripped from her throat.
“Mr. Charlotte, please! I was wrong! I shouldn’t have said those things to your wife! Spare the baby!”
But Wright was lost to reason. He swung the globe again, this time striking her with a brutal force.
Be quiet!” he yelled.
Wright had no idea how long the assault lasted. It felt like an eternity.
02.20
<
11 Chapter 11
When he finally stopped, Lucia lay motionless on the ground, a dark pool of blood spreading out from beneath her.
He let the crystal globe drop from his hand.
He had crossed a line. And there was no coming back.
A decade later…
I had spent ten years in French, forging a new life from the ashes of my old one. I was now a gallerist.
I was scrolling through the news on my phone when a headline caught my attention: Charlotte Holdings Appoints New President.
It had been ten years since I had left New York, since I had cut every last tie to my past.
The new president of Charlotte Holdings was Wright’s cousin.
My intuition screamed that something terrible had happened to Wright.
I quickly typed his name into the search bar. My breath caught in my throat when I saw an article from ten years ago.
The headline: Wall Street King Wright Charlotte Sentenced to Life in Prison for the Brutal Murder of His Assistant, Lucia Reed.
I was stunned.
I clicked on the article and saw a photo of Wright. He was in a prison jumpsuit, his head shaved, his eyes empty and lifeless.
I looked at the date of the article. It was the exact same day I had left New York.
Before I could fully comprehend what I was seeing, I heard my partner, Liam, call my name, snapping me back to the present.
“Rannie, we have to go. Our reservation is in twenty minutes.”
I looked up and saw him smiling at me from the doorway. “What are you looking at that has you so shocked?”
I took a deep breath, pushing away the tidal wave of emotions that had threatened to pull me under. I knew better than to get lost in the past. His story was no longer a part of mine.
With a steady exhale, I met Liam’s loving gaze. I put down my phone and followed him out of our apartment and into the picturesque streets of Paris.
The weight of the past finally lifted, and the beauty of my new life filled me with a sense of profound peace and purpose.
