put a hand on her heart. “You scared me. Thank God, you’re here. Where is everyone else?”
“I don’t know.” Bryan’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “In fact, I was about to call you. I heard that your engagement has been called off.”
She winced. Damn it! Had the news spread already? She hated to answer so many questions. “Yes, it has.”
“I’m sure you’re hurting right now.”
Her first thought was of Clint. He made her feel better. “Actually, I’m not.” She shrugged. “It’s a part of life. Don’t worry about me, Bryan. I’m fine.”
“Why don’t we go and have lunch together and you can tell me all about it?” He gripped her arm. “Asher and his crew haven’t come in. It’s damn unprofessional of them, if you ask me. We should cancel today’s shoot to teach them a lesson.”
She tried to yank free from his grip. “Don’t be silly. Something must have happened. Let me check with Asher.” She made a move to get her phone from her handbag, but Bryan still hadn’t released her arm.
His grip tightened. “I’ll do it later. Why don’t we go to my place first? I’m sure you want to talk more about this. Gage was never good enough for you.” A sharp gleam showed in his eyes.
The nape of her neck tingled. A feeling of foreboding overwhelmed her. “I’m okay, Bryan.” Her breaths quickened but she fought hard stay calm and to keep her voice firm, confident. “Leave me, alone.”
“You’re an attractive woman. Even if you lose every hair on your body, I would still be attracted to you.” He pulled her as he marched towards the door. “Come on, let’s go.”
The faint fission of alarm was now a full blown avalanche of terror. “Bryan. What’s wrong with you? Let me go.”
“You’re such a hard ass, Layla. Nothing is ever good enough for you.” When he yanked her hard, she nearly fell over.
Layla screamed but he pinned a hand on her mouth and yanked her against his body. The thump of her heartbeat thrashed loudly in her ears and her blood grew cold. What did he plan to do? Was he going to force himself on her?
While she kicked and groaned, he dragged her into Abby’s room. Throwing her on the couch, he closed the door. “Now, you can’t get away.”
“What are you doing?”
“I should’ve done this a long time ago. Women like you don’t understand pretty words. You want a man to show you how it should be done.”
Was he actually planning to rape her? Had he gone mad? She lunged for the door.
He grabbed her waist and threw her on the couch once more.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Yes, I have. And you will too, when you see what I’ve got to show you.” He fiddled with the buttons of his shirt and shucked it off. “You’re going to have a great time, baby.”
She dug into her purse to get out the pepper spray but as soon as she pulled it out, he snatched it out of her hands. Layla wished she’d taken the time to learn self-defense. If she got out of this, it would be the first class she enrolled into. “I don’t want this, Bryan. Let me go right now.”
He leered at her. “I know what you really want.”
Layla screamed and screamed. She darted to the side and tried to pick up a chair, but it was too heavy. He’d lost his mind. If she didn’t do something, he would definitely rape her. Was she destined to end up like her mother? She couldn’t bear the atrocity of it. This wasn’t fair. She’d trusted this man, and he betrayed her in the worst possible way. Picking up the paperweight from Abby’s desk, she threw it at him but he dodged. It shattered against the wall. Layla ran towards the door, but he rammed into her with enough force to make her dizzy. She fell on the tiled floor and he leaned on top of her.
Grabbing her arms, he pinned her hard.
She kicked him in the groin.
With a groan, he let her go.
Heaving him off, she tried to make her way towards the door but he grabbed her hand. He stood and pushed her. She fell
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