The Bride Wore Blood At The Finish Line Chapter 02
Hunter’s fingers were already curled around the edge of the helmet.
His knuckles were white. He was holding it like garbage.
But that was the last thing my brother ever wore. Ethan’s warmth was still inside it. His last breath. The one he took while he was burning alive.
Something in me snapped.
I lunged forward and sank my teeth into Hunter’s wrist.
Blood filled my mouth. Hot. Metallic.
“Nora, you fucking bit me?!”
Hunter roared. His fist came down on my head. Then he shoved me off him with everything he had.
The back of my skull cracked against a locker door. White light exploded behind my eyes. My ears rang.
I went flying. My shoulder scraped half a foot across the concrete floor.
The helmet slipped from my hands. Rolled twice.
“Ethan!”
I threw myself on top of it. Body flat. Protecting it.
Hunter’s foot came down on my back.
“Move!”
He ground his heel in harder. “Give me the helmet!”
I bit down on my teeth. Forehead pressed against the scorched visor. Words came out one at a time.
“This is my brother’s… last thing… you can stomp me to death… I’m not giving it up.”
“Hunter, baby, don’t hurt yourself over her!”
Chloe rushed over. Crouched down. Not to help me. She was cupping Hunter’s wrist. Blowing softly on the row of teeth marks.
Then she looked at me. Wounded.
“Nora, why would you bite him? He’s just looking out for you. That helmet’s already destroyed. It’s filthy. It’d be perfect for Biscuit.”
She smiled.
“I’ll get Hunter to buy you a new one. Gold-plated, even. Okay?”
Her voice was sweet and light. Like she was coaxing a disobedient dog.
My blood shot straight to my skull.
“Chloe. You don’t get to touch his things.”
I pushed myself halfway up. Stared her down.
“My brother died for that helmet. And you want to give it to your dog? Your dog isn’t fit to lick his shoes.”
Chloe’s face crumpled. Her eyes filled up on cue. “Hunter… I…”
Hunter kicked me flat to the floor. Bent down. Pulled her up.
Every bone in my body screamed. He stood over me, looking down like I was a stray he couldn’t get to sit.
“Nora.”
“Chloe’s got an eighty-million-dollar investment offer from Ashford Capital in her hand. That money is the only reason those old bastards on the Vance board will vote for me.”
His voice was ice.
“You? What have you got? A dead brother?”
What have I got. Ha.
Right then, Grandma Ellie’s signed proxy transfer was digging into my hip. Sharp. Painful.
I didn’t say a word about it.
I pushed myself off the floor. My whole body was shaking. I grabbed my collar and ripped it open.
The scar. From under my collarbone, winding up over my left shoulder, down to my chest. Right there in his face.
Ugly. Twisted. Like a centipede burrowed under my skin.
“Hunter! Three years ago. Your car flipped. Fuel line ruptured. You were pinned in the driver’s seat, burning alive. Everyone ran. Including your Chloe.”
Chloe went white.
Hunter’s pupils shrank.
“You want to know what I’ve got? I’ve got this.”
“Me and my brother ran into the fire and dragged you out! Four months in the ICU! Three skin grafts! I almost died on the operating table!”
I screamed it. Tears hit the floor.
“Grandma said you were done with racing after that. Who spent three days on her knees begging her to let you keep the club? Me!”
“My brother isn’t even in the ground yet, and you want to give his helmet to that bitch’s dog?!”
The air froze.
Hunter’s throat bobbed.
Then he laughed.
His hand shot up. Fingers around my throat. He slammed me against the wall.
My feet left the ground. My spine cracked against rough brick. My skin burned.
My brother’s trophies rattled off the locker shelf. One shattered at my feet.
I couldn’t breathe. I clawed at his fingers, dragged my nails down until I felt skin split.
“Saved me?”
A vein bulged at his temple. His voice was a roar in my ear.
“You saved me once and thought you owned me for life?! You’ve been clinging to me for the Vance money! Every single thing you did was an investment! You think I’m that stupid?!”
My windpipe was crushing. Everything went black at the edges.
For a second, I saw Ethan. Smiling. Walking toward me.
Then Chloe’s voice. Sweet enough to make me throw up.
“Nora, sweetie. I’d let you keep the wife title. Really. If you just behave, I can take care of you.”
Wife title?
This woman couldn’t even fix her own fake virginity right. And she wanted to take care of me?
If his hand wasn’t on my throat, I’d have clawed her face off.
But her words made Hunter’s grip loosen a little.
He looked down at me. Pity in his eyes. Like he was handing me the greatest gift in the world.
“Hear that? Chloe’s more generous than you deserve. Say thank you.”
I looked at the smug little curl at the corner of Chloe’s mouth.
The last string in my head snapped.
I reached behind me. My hand closed around Ethan’s screwdriver on the counter. I swung with everything I had. Straight for Chloe’s face.
“AH!”
Chloe screamed. Hunter’s knee slammed into my stomach.
Pain.
Not skin pain. Not muscle pain. Something deep. Something breaking inside me. Like my whole womb had been twisted and wrung out.
I dropped to my knees. Hands over my stomach.
Warm liquid ran down the inside of my thigh.
I looked down.
Dark red bloomed at the crotch of my jeans.
That was supposed to be surprise number three.
After the fire three years ago, the doctors said Hunter’s chances of ever fathering a child were basically zero. One in a million.
Grandma Ellie lit candles for months. Nothing worked.
But I got pregnant.
That’s why she’d finally signed the proxy transfer. That’s why she’d handed him the Vance succession.
Because of this baby.
And now blood was pooling under me on the tile.
Ethan’s helmet sat right next to the puddle.
“Nora! How long are you going to keep this up?!”
I heard Chloe screaming. I heard Hunter swearing.
The veins at his temple pulsed. He hissed through his teeth.
“You don’t understand English?! I said I’m out of patience!”
He rushed at me. Grabbed my jaw. His face twisted into something I didn’t recognize.
His eyes swept over the blood. Nothing moved in them. Nothing.
“Still faking? You think bleeding a little is going to make me feel bad?”
His hand crushed my jaw. Like he wanted to snap it.
“You come at Chloe? You want to walk out on me? Where the fuck would you go? You couldn’t survive a week without me!”
I couldn’t breathe. Everything blurred red.
But I forced the last of my air out. Word by word.
“Hunter.”
“I’m pregnant.”
The pain tore through my stomach again. Blood poured from between my legs.
The floor went red under me.