Chapter 48 Out in The Cold

Chapter 48 Out in The Cold
Elena

I angrily slammed the heavy oak door behind me so hard that it rattled in its frame. But I couldn't be bothered by that. My pulse was still beating heavily in my ears, and my palms were slick with sweat. Every muscle in my whole body screamed at me to leave this damned house, his house, before I did something I would regret.

I didn't even know what I did wrong.

One moment, he was quiet, watching me with that unreadable look in his eyes, and the next, he was spitting words at me that burned. 

How could he be so cold and cruel and say such demeaning things to me? 

I knew he was an arrogant piece of shit, but I never said I was signing up to be a recipient of his assholery!!

I still won't sign up for that. 

Now I was out.

The guards at the door stepped forward when they saw me, but I lifted my chin defiantly and dared them to touch me. 

"If anyone touches me," I warned in a shaky voice, "I'll scream." 

They froze.

Good.

I half expected Alexander to storm after me, to shout, to order them to drag me back inside, but nothing came. Just silence. Which meant he had probably told them to let me go.

Typical Harrington arrogance, he probably thought I would come crawling back once I cooled off.

As soon as I stepped outside, I was hit by the cold air. It was definitely colder than I had expected. I didn't have the time to grab a coat because someone was being grumpy. He probably had a rough night and was looking for whom to let out the frustration on. It definitely wasn't me. 

Now I was only putting on a thin cardigan, which I had thrown over my silk nightdress, alongside the boots I had hastily pulled on at the door. 

The sky was the color of lead, and thin flakes of snow had begun to fall again.

Crap.
This was bad. 

I wrapped my arms tightly around myself and started walking down the long gravel driveway. My breath puffed out in small, uneven clouds as I walked faster, trying my hardest to outpace the tears that stung behind my eyes. 

Riley, I remembered. I should call Riley to come pick me up. 
I fished out my phone, which luckily for me was in the pockets of my cardigan, and dialed her number. 

"Riley," I muttered, fumbling with my phone. "Please pick up."
The screen glowed blue against the grey morning, and I pressed 'call'.

‘The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable.'

Shit.

I tried again. And again. Still, it wasn't connecting.

"Damn it." I kicked at the snow and kept on walking. My boots kept crunching on the icy ground as I went. I had nowhere in mind. I decided to rather die from a cold than go back to that monster. 

My hands were numb, and my nose had turned red. I should've gone back to grab a coat, but no. I couldn't. You could call it pride, but it was what kept my feet moving forward.

I wasn't going back there. Not yet. Not until he begged.

Because he would beg.

Whatever had crawled under his skin this morning, whatever dark mood or secret he was wrestling with, he freaking had no right to throw it at me. 

Especially since I was supposed to mean nothing but a freaking surrogate to him. 

It was bad enough that I was carrying his child, but did he also want to wear me down emotionally? 

I hugged myself tighter as I felt the chill seep in through my bones. 

I was long past the gates to Alexander's estate and was on my way, heading to God knows where. The cold was making it harder to walk, and the snow was covering my view. My hair was even damp from the melting snowflakes, and strands were sticking to my neck. I checked my phone again, and there was still no service. 

Perfect.

I stopped at a corner of the road, which strangely looked deserted. Alexander's mansion was now just like a blur behind me through the fog. I was breathing heavily now. I rubbed my arms, trying to will some warmth into my body. 

Then my phone buzzed.

Must be Riley!  
I startled so hard that I almost dropped it. 

When the screen lit up, it wasn't her number. It was some unknown number.

I felt my stomach drop.

I hesitated before answering as my thumb hovered over the green icon before I pressed answer. 

"Hello?" I spoke in a thin, uncertain voice into the receiver's speaker, hoping it was Riley. 

For a second, all I heard was static.

"Hello, Elena Knight." Someone said. 

It was the voice. The same distorted, deep voice from before, which had spoken calmly and almost politely to me, but was laced with something that made my insides twist. 

My heart froze mid-beat. 

"Who is this?" I asked shakily..

A low chuckle came from the other end. 

"You didn't really think we could forget you, did you?" the voice asked. 

I swallowed hard as my throat suddenly felt dry. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. 

"Don't you?" The voice almost sounded amused. "I told you once—I know what you did to John West. I know who you are. And now… now that you’re out of your comfort zone, it’ll be easier to come for you," it said.

My pulse raced. 

"What do you mean, come for me?" I asked, trying not to sound scared. 

The wind howled around me, and for a moment I thought I saw movement among the trees lining the road.

"Run while you can," the voice said softly. "You shouldn’t have left the house," it added. 

Then the line went dead.

I stood frozen in my spot with the phone still pressed against my ear. The cold suddenly felt sharper, like knives cutting through my skin. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I turned in slow circles, scanning the road, the trees, the empty stretch of white ahead. Someone was watching me. 

Nothing.

But I could feel it. 

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "No, no, no." I was out in danger and in a vulnerable state. 

I started walking again, faster this time, with one hand clutching my belly. Every figure suddenly looked like it was moving. The world had gone too quiet, no cars, no birds, not even the wind. Just the sound of my boots crunching through the snow.

And then, I saw headlights.

Holy shit!

A low rumble sounded as I saw a black car appear at the bend, its engine was so loud that I felt my heart jump into my throat. It was an unfamiliar Audi. 

Holy shit!
It could be them!

The Audi slowed as it approached me. It was sleek and dark with its tinted windows hiding whoever was inside.

I stopped dead in the middle of the path, and my phone slipped slightly from my hand.

This was it.

They had found me.

I took a step back with my pulse thundering in my ears and my fingers trembling so hard I could not even keep my phone steady.

The car pulled up beside me and stopped. The window rolled down halfway.

I braced myself, more than ready to run, to scream, anything.

But then I saw him.

Alexander Harrington.

For a moment, all I could do was stare. His jaw was tight, and his eyes looked unreadable with the morning light shining on the strands of his dark hair.

He looked… furious. And yet, under all that anger, there was something else; it was something raw and unspoken.

"Get in the car," he said quietly in an edgy voice. 

I blinked, still trying to catch my breath. 

Part of me wanted to shout at him, to tell him to go to hell for how he had treated me. But another part, the part that had just heard that voice, felt something else entirely.

Relief.
My knees went weak.

He was here.