Page 64 of Sebastian's Secret

The conclusion threatened to suffocate her until the distant sound of a car from the front gate captured her focus. As abruptly as it had taken hold, the spell that held her, was broken. Keeping as low as she could manage, Rebecca tore away from the side of the house. She stayed as close to the enormous trees that lined the estate as possible, using them as shelter and when her phone buzzed from her pocket, she ducked around the same aging oak to check her latest message from Sebastian.

I’m waiting outside, beautiful. Where are you?

I’m coming, she replied, only dimly aware of how ironic the retort was. Half an hour before she had longed to come, but as alarm at her father’s arrival settled over her, her arousal had finally been dampened.

My father came home and I’m making a stealthy exit.

WHAT? Sebastian’s use of capitals suggested he shared her trepidation.

I’m okay, she added before peering up at her location. I’m a minute from the gates.

Tugging her bag back over her shoulder, she rose to her feet and ran for the finishing line. It was right there—her escape to freedom and the future she deserved—within arm’s reach when her brother’s car swung around the corner, blocking her getaway. Like a rabbit in the headlights of an incoming vehicle, she stood, immobilized as panic exploded in her mind.

This can’t be happening!

She couldn’t have made it this far only to be halted by her asshole brother. This was not how Rebecca Monroe’s story unfolded. Gathering enough composure to move, she stumbled forward as Oliver’s window lowered.

“Get out of the fucking road, bitch,” he leaned out of his window, hollering in a characteristically vile tone.

Staggering to the driver’s side, she paused and stared into his uncaring blue eyes.

How strange, she considered, that at this of all moments, there’s no fear. After enduring years of mistreatment at his and their father’s hands, she acknowledged that there was nothing but apathy for the men she called her family. Her lips twitched as she gripped her phone tighter.

It’s time for a new family.

Sebastian was waiting for her on the other side of the perimeter wall. Hell, he had probably have heard Oliver’s words. There was nothing to be frightened of anymore. Leaning forward, she made sure her brother met her gaze before she spat the insult she was dying to share.

“Fuck you, Oliver!”

Watching the shock in his eyes, Rebecca had never felt more alive. Without waiting for his answer, she turned and fled, squeezing through the tiny space his Lamborghini left between its rear and the gates, and dragging her bag behind her.

I’ve done it! I’ve got away.

“Rebecca?”

Just as she suspected, Sebastian was standing by his car less than a foot from the gate, his brows knitted.

“Are you okay?”

She ran to him, breathing in his tantalizing scent as he wrapped his powerful arms around her. Sebastian. He filled up her senses, soothing and recharging her with only one embrace, and even as she processed Oliver’s spiteful yells behind her, the only thing that Rebecca could think was that she was home. Leaving the bricks and mortar that had been her gilded cage for so long, she had finally found a place to be herself.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Sebastian

“Was that your brother?”

Sebastian whispered the words as he stood holding her. Tugging her bag from her shoulder, he dropped it to the ground by his feet.

He could scarcely believe what he had just witnessed. Oliver’s car had swung around his Ferrari so fast that not only had the idiot nearly taken off Sebastian’s door, but he had barely had time to stop for his sister.

“Yes,” she breathed, apparently too content to bother lifting her cheek from his chest. But that was okay. That would always be okay with him. “He’s an asshole.”

“I see that.”

Sebastian wasn’t surprised. He’d already seen Oliver push Rebecca to the ground and drive away. This was only the latest despicable offense. Standing there he considered that perhaps Balthazar was right. Maybe Oliver Monroe was the disgraceful villain his brother purported. Maybe, there was nothing to be done except accept him as their enemy. After the way Rebecca had been treated, he could get on board with that concept, but Sebastian knew something Balthazar did not.

Not all Monroe’s were bad news.