A Billionaire's Mistake

39|Damaged

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Damaged

Sienna

"Here to answer all of your burning questions, please welcome the CEO of Nash Enterprises, Lincoln Nash." I step off the stage quickly, the coffee I drank earlier this morning running straight through me. I need to hurry so that I don't miss too much of Lincoln's speech because I know he's nervous about it as it is, so I pick up my pace down the hallway, almost at a light jog.

I'm about to reach the handle of the door when I'm suddenly pulled back into someone's chest. I don't even have it in me to panic when the blade of a knife presses against my throat. "You scream, you fucking die. Do you hear me?"

The voice sends a bone-chilling fear all the way down to my toes. I used to hear this same voice in my ear for years of torture and torment. I'd recognize it anywhere. I know it's Travis, and I know he'll follow through with his threats, so I meekly nod my head with tears pricking in the backs of my eyes, glancing left and right, begging and pleading for someone to come down the hallway. Of course, that isn't going to happen. The media is focusing on Lincoln with his speech, the reason they all came, and since the hotel is still shut down to guests, we're completely alone. He chose the perfect time to do this.

He backs us up towards the elevators and presses the button for the third floor. He reeks of nothing but cigarettes and beer, and the smell practically gags me. My stomach is churning, and my body is shaking, any source of sound unable to escape me. I'm frozen in fear of what I know is about to happen to me.

"Did you miss me beautiful?" He drags the blade of the knife up and down the side of my neck, my tears spilling onto my cheeks now. "Did you really think I'd let you go after all those years? That I'd stop thinking about you? What you felt like?"

I whimper, on the verge of sobs, a pit in my stomach the size of The Grand Canyon as he shoves me out of the elevator doors and goes straight across the hall to the first room. I analyze his outfit, a dirty plaid shirt, and jeans with holes that aren't supposed to be there. There's a bulge against his hip, which I'm assuming to be a gun. He slips out a key card and swipes it for access, his hand gripped so tightly on my arm that I know it's already leaving a bruise.

The door slams loudly behind us, and he shoves me further into the room, my back hitting the corner of the wall. I suck in a sharp breath from the pain, refusing to look him in the eye as he takes a step closer to me. His breath is on my lips now, flashbacks entering into my head all at once. I'm trying to block them out, to shove them back into my personal vault, but Travis knows the code to unleash them all at full fucking force.

"You thought moving to New York would stop me? I've been watching your every move, Sienna, every step you take. How the fuck could you get engaged to someone like Reed? Don't you realize yet that I'm the only one that will ever get to have you?"

My eyes burn into his now, wincing from his orbs of green hell. "Reed has nothing to do with this. We've been broken up for almost a year now."

He smirks. "And why do you think that is love?"

My eyes narrow, and my breath is shaky as I say, "Did you hurt him?"

He drags the knife down my cheek now, cutting into it slightly to draw blood. I hiss in pain, but I refuse to scream. I refuse to give him the satisfaction he's craving. "No, I didn't hurt him, but I did threaten his life if he stayed with you. I could tell you never really loved him. It was like you were waiting for me to find you again, until..." The knife digs deeper, forming a gash, and I bite so hard on my lip that I taste blood from that, too. "Until Lincoln Nash."

My body freezes. My heart stops. Time stands still.

"He's no one," I lie, but tears are already forming in my eyes, and he can tell. He can tell just how much he means to me. How much I love him.