Page 99 of Sweet Wicked Vows
We both jumped as a car door slammed shut. Laurence’s head spun faster than a cartwheel to see Jaxon strolling up the garden path. Jaxon’s gaze lazily drifted between us, a lethally calm smile on his lips when he spotted our hands together.
“Speak of the devil,” Laurence said.
Jaxon’s face remained impassive. “If you were smart, you’d let go of my wife.”
Laurence didn’t budge. “I think we all need to have a little chat. I’m not sure if you know who I am…”
“I know who you are,” Jaxon cut him off, fury hardening his features. “You’re the sorry son of a bitch who is two seconds away from going to the hospital and asking them to remove your own hands from your intestines if you don’t stop touching her.”
“Jaxon, you need to calm down,” I said, attempting to slip my hand away. Laurence’s grip tightened. “Laurence was just leaving.”
Laurence ignored me. “And I know exactly whoyouare. You are nothing more than a poor business decision, one that is about to be rectified.”
Jaxon’s lips curved into a blood-curdling smile. “Is that so?”
“Yes, say goodbye to Evie. She is leaving with me, and you will never see her again.”
Crack.
Blood gushed from Laurence’s nose.
“I did warn you.” Jaxon rolled his neck. “Now it’s time foryouto say goodbye before I do enough damage that no plastic surgeon will be able to save your face.”
Everything moved in slow motion. One second, Laurence was clutching his bloody nose and the next, he was lunging at Jaxon. In a blink, Jaxon dodged the impending fist set for his jaw and reacted by ramming his elbow into Laurence’s ribcage.
“Stop!” I jumped into action before Laurence attempted to retaliate again. He was swaying on his feet, wheezing for breath, while Jaxon stood unfazed. “Laurence, you need to leave!”
“What the fuck is happening?” Lola ran into the hallway. “Oh my god, is that blood?”
Jaxon wiped the crimson droplets off his bleeding fist. “Take this as your only warning to stay away from my wife.”
“You’ve broken a rib, you cunt!” Laurence seethed.
“Consider yourself lucky that’s all I broke,” Jaxon said.
Before any more blood was shed, I put myself firmly between my ex-fiancé and my husband.
Turning to Lola, her eyes widening at the blood pouring like a broken tap from Laurence’s nose, I pointed at the car sitting outside the house. “Lola, take Laurence to the closest hospital.”
“What!?” Lola blinked. “You want me to take that piece of shit to a hospital?”
I shouldn’t care. God help me, I shouldn’t have given a shit, but all that mattered was getting him far away from Jaxon. The two of them were likely to kill each other, and I didn’t wish to dig too deeply and consider who I wanted to win.
“Benny is in the car. He will drive you there and then take you home,” I pleaded. “Just please, make sure he gets to a hospital.”
No one said anything as Lola helped Laurence down the path and bundled him into the back of the car with Benny’s aid. Istood at the doorway, watching the car vanish from the street before following Jaxon back into the house and slamming the door behind me.
“Are you fucking crazy?” I followed him into the kitchen. “What makes you think it’s okay to attack someone like that? Out in public, too! You’re lucky no one rang the police!”
He shrugged off his coat. “I warned him. If he were a smarter man, he wouldn’t have dared touch you in the first place.”
“He was holding my hand, Jaxon!Christ.You can’t just attack someone for holding my hand.”
“Watch me.”
I ran my hands through my scalp. “What are you even doing here? You’re meant to be in Dubai.”
A beat of silence.