Chapter 78 Chapter Seventy-seven
ARA
“Get the jet ready,” Thayne said sharply. “We’re leaving the country tonight.”
I blinked, covering myself up as I struggled to comprehend the bomb Munroe had just dropped on us.
Thayne's father knew now that I was pregnant. He would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
Madison was out of the picture, she was incapable of aiding his father now that she'd been shot.
Which left Ethan as the only workable tool. Ethan was dangerous, I'd seen the feral look back in the hospital.
He looked ready to kill anyone at anytime, so long as he was confident he would get what he wanted in the end.
Munroe paused. “Sir—”
“Tonight,” Thayne snapped. “I just recovered what I thought I lost. You want me to lose it all again? I will protect my woman and my child, no matter the cost.”
He hung up without waiting for confirmation.
For a long moment he just stared at the phone in his hand, breathing hard.
Then he tossed it onto the chair and stalked back to the bed, climbing over me until I was flat on my back again, his body a hard, protective cage.
“They’re not touching you,” he said against my mouth, the words fierce and raw. “I’ll keep you, our baby and your sisters safe. Whoever tries to hurt you will be dead before they even think about it. Do you hear me?” His words were supposed to sound reassuring, but he'd growled the words out instead of saying it, and it turned me on even more.
His hand slid between my thighs, finding me still slick, still swollen from him.
Two fingers pushed inside without warning, curling hard, and I gasped, back arching.
“Are we really traveling tonight?” I whispered, fighting to keep my head above the surface even though pleasure was dragging me under.
“I wasn’t finished,” he growled. “And neither are we.”
He fucked me with his fingers roughly, thumb grinding my clit until I was writhing, tears pricking my eyes from the intensity.
Only when I was trembling on the edge again did he pull them free and flip me back onto my stomach.
This time there was no slow entry. He drove into my ass in one long, punishing thrust, bottoming out with a guttural sound that was half moan, half snarl.
I screamed into the pillow, the burn exquisite, overwhelming.
He didn’t pause. He fucked me like the world was ending outside these walls, like the only truth left was the one between our bodies.
His hand fisted in my hair, pulling my head back so he could speak directly against my ear.
“Listen to me,” he rasped, his hips slamming forward, each thrust driving the air from my lungs. “You are mine. This”—he pressed a palm to my lower belly—“is mine. And I will burn everything down before I let him rewrite our story.”
I came with a loud, broken cry, clenching around him so hard he cursed viciously, his pace turning erratic.
He followed seconds later, spilling deep with a roar that sounded like it was ripped from his soul.
When it was over, he didn’t pull out immediately. He stayed inside me, chest heaving against my back, arms banded around me like iron.
“We leave in three hours,” he whispered finally, lips brushing my shoulder. “Somewhere he can’t reach. Somewhere safe.”
I turned my head just enough to meet his eyes.
“Wherever you go,” I said, my voice hoarse from crying from pleasure, “I’m already there.”
Something fierce and tender flashed in his gaze, and he claimed my lips in a deep, possessive kiss.
He finally withdrew, pulling me up with him.
We showered together in silence, our hands gentle now, washing away sweat and fear and the last traces of each other.
By the time we stepped out, the ruthless Thayne Slade was back in control, dressing in black, making calls, orchestrating our disappearance.
But when he buckled me into the backseat of the armored SUV hours later, his hand settled protectively over my stomach, his thumb tracing small circles.
He'd made arrangements for my sisters’ safety. He'd entrusted them in the care of one of the most expensive security agencies in the country.
His father had crossed a line there was no coming back from. By now, the press would be in a feeding frenzy, headlines screaming across every screen and front page.
Former Slade Heir Shoots Ex in Brutal Confrontation.
Slade Junior Opens Fire on Madison Irvington, Assaults Brother in Bloody Power Struggle.
The lies would spread like wildfire, twisting the truth until it was unrecognizable.
Ten minutes into the drive, Munroe’s name flashed on the dashboard screen.
Thayne accepted the call instantly, his jaw tightening before Munroe even spoke.
Munroe’s voice came through the speakers, low and strained, carrying a weight that made the air in the SUV feel heavier.
“Thayne… it’s worse than we thought.”
Thayne’s fingers stilled on my stomach. His eyes, already sharp with calculation, turned lethal. “Tell me.”
“The old man didn’t just leak to the tabloids. He went straight to the major networks. Live press conference twenty minutes ago. He’s claiming you shot Madison in cold blood in order to hurt your father indirectly, and that you attacked Ethan when he tried to protect her. He’s painting you as unstable, dangerous.
He also said he’s petitioning the board for an emergency vote to remove you as CEO. For the safety of the company.”
A muscle ticked in Thayne’s cheek. His hand pressed harder against my belly, almost unconsciously protective.
“And the police?” Thayne asked, his oice deceptively calm, like the stillness before a storm breaks.
“Ethan’s statement backs your father’s version. Madison’s still unconscious, so no counter yet. They’ve issued a warrant, though. Attempted murder and assault. They’re calling it a family dispute gone wrong, but the wording makes you look unhinged.”
I felt the shift in Thayne immediately, the way his body went rigid, the way his breathing slowed into something controlled and deadly.
He didn’t speak for a long moment. But when he did, his voice was quiet and lethal. “Let them come.”
Munroe hesitated. “What—”
“I said let them come,” Thayne repeated, softer this time, which somehow made it more terrifying. “They want a war? I’ll give them one they’ll never forget.”
He ended the call with a flick of his finger.
The silence that followed was thick and charged. City lights streaked past the tinted windows, but inside the vehicle, everything felt suspended.
I turned to him, searching his profile, the hard line of his jaw, the storm brewing behind those green eyes.
“They’re trying to take everything from you,” I whispered.
His gaze slid to mine, fierce and unwavering. “They can try.”
He lifted my hand, pressing a kiss to my knuckles, then to the inside of my wrist, lingering there as if drawing strength from my pulse.
“They think they can bury me in lies and legal chains,” he murmured against my skin. “But they forget, I was raised in the same shadows they wield. I know every corner, every weakness.”
His thumb traced slow circles over my stomach again, grounding himself.
“I won’t run forever,” he said quietly. “We leave tonight to keep you and our child safe. But this ends when I decide it ends. Not before.”
The conviction in his voice sent a shiver through me. We were at war now with his father. Hell, with the whole of New York.
As we drove on in silence, everything fell into place.
Thayne was moving us out of New York because I was a target once again. I was carrying his baby, after all.
Did he truly love me enough to do all of these? Or was I falling for the part of him that didn't want to lose the only ticket to inheriting Slade Corps?