Chapter 1 - I Said It Out Loud
“I’m afraid of him.”
The words left my mouth so quietly that I almost thought the music had swallowed them.
But the orchestra had stopped.
The ballroom had gone silent.
And Dante Moretti heard every syllable.
Nolan’s face changed instantly.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
His voice was low, but the warning inside it was familiar.
I had heard that tone in our kitchen.
In our bedroom.
In the car when I said something he didn’t like.
My body knew it before my brain did.
I flinched.
Dante noticed.
His hand tightened slightly around my waist.
Not possessively.
Protectively.
Nolan saw that too.
“She’s had too much to drink,” Nolan said with a strained laugh.
“I haven’t had anything.”
His eyes snapped toward me.
That look told me I would pay for contradicting him.
Except for the first time, I wasn’t alone when he gave it to me.
Dante stepped between us.
“How long?”
I stared at him.
“How long has he been hurting you?”
Nolan’s smile vanished.
“This is none of your business, Moretti.”
A few people actually gasped.
Nobody spoke to Dante Moretti like that.
Dante did not raise his voice.
“That was your first mistake tonight.”
Nolan swallowed.
Dante glanced at my arm.
Finger-shaped red marks were already darkening beneath my skin.
Then his gaze moved back to Nolan.
“Your second mistake was leaving evidence.”
Nolan reached for me.
Dante caught his wrist before he got close.
The movement was so fast I barely saw it happen.
“I’m taking my girlfriend home.”
Dante’s expression turned frighteningly calm.
“She just told a room full of witnesses that she’s afraid of you.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying.”
My voice shook.
But it came out.
That was enough.
Nolan stared at me as if I had betrayed him.
“You want to humiliate me like this?”
Something inside me finally hardened.
“You humiliated yourself every time you put your hands on me.”
Whispers moved through the ballroom.
Nolan’s face turned red.
Dante released his wrist.
Then he said something that changed the entire night.
“She isn’t leaving with you.”
Nolan laughed bitterly.
“And who exactly is going to stop me?”
Men in dark suits began quietly stepping away from the walls.
One.
Two.
Five.
Eight.
All looking at Dante.
Nolan’s confidence disappeared.
Dante leaned closer.
“Everyone.”
And that was when Nolan looked toward the ballroom doors.
Not like an angry boyfriend anymore.
May you like
Like a man planning an escape.
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