The Arrogant Artist : A Billionaire Boss Romance (International Bad Boys Set Book 2), стр. 59
Ouch. That’s going to hurt. Probably going to bruise too.
I eventually get into the cubicle somehow. It takes me a couple of tries to fix myself up.
On the way out, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Oh wow! What the hell happened? I look like shit. My makeup has completely run, my eyes appear bloodshot, my skin has a gray tone. I don’t look cute at all.
Maybe it’s time for bed.
I’m feeling really tired.
I wish Louis were here to carry me. My legs feel heavy.
I make my way to the exit. The swirling colors of the lights are blurring, and the music is becoming muffled in my ears. What’s going on? I’m not feeling well at all.
“Enjoying your girls’ night?”
That voice. It’s the one that gives me nightmares.
“What are you doing here, Yves?” He just chuckles, moving closer to me as I stumble against the wall. Stupid heels.
“Just having fun with my boys, who seem to have taken a shining to your girls.” I try to look over his shoulder, hoping to catch someone’s attention, but everything behind him is a blur. I don’t feel good at all.
“Please leave me alone.” I take a step but stumble right into his arms.
“See. I knew you would come around. Louis’ women always do.”
I try to push him off me, but I don’t have the strength, he’s too strong. I stay slumped against him.
“Someone has had a little too much fun, I think. Lucky, I’m here to look after you. So many dangerous people out there.” His laugh sounds maniacal bordering on evil.
“No.” I try and scream, but my voice comes out more like a whisper.
I can’t fight him off.
I now know what I’m feeling.
My heart constricts in my chest as a panic attack starts, but I’m becoming immobilized. I can’t feel anything except for living a nightmare that I can’t stop from happening.
We move through the crowd with Yves’ arms wrapped around me. I try and gain people’s attention by screaming and shouting, but it’s all internal because nothing comes out of my mouth.
My eyes are becoming heavy.
No. Fight it, Emily.
I can’t fall asleep.
I won’t fall asleep.
But I know I can’t fight the drugs that are having this effect on me.
The world is becoming darker and darker until blackness consumes me.
Please, Louis, help me.
36
Louis
“I’m going to fucking kill him.” I’m pulling my hair out. Rosie called to tell me that Emily didn’t return from the bathroom. When they started looking for her, one of the staff said she had left with a man. Thankfully, the girls have location finders on their cell phones because they were able to find her moving on the GPS locator. The girls are currently in a taxi following the blinking dot just like we are.
Our driver rushes through the Paris streets, following the directions the girls are giving us. The girls let me know the blinking has stopped and give us the last known coordinates.
My stomach sinks.
I know that address.
Daniel looks at me, his face a little paler than normal. “He wouldn’t?” His question is faint, but I hear it.
“If he touches a hair on her head, I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Louis,” Daniel warns me.
“No, brother, the bastard has my woman. Emily hasn’t done anything to him. She doesn’t deserve this. Not after everything she has been through in her past. Did you know she was raped when she was a teen?”
Daniel looks at me, horrified.
“Exactly. She told me about it after Monaco. The incident still gives her nightmares.”
“I have a friend in the Gendarmerie. I’ll call and get him to meet us there. We have to do this by the book. He needs to be put away if he’s touched her.”
“I don’t know if I can wait.” Daniel gives me a pleading look but also a profoundly serious one as well. “He has her, and God only knows what he’s doing to her.”
Daniel’s phone beeps.
“My friend is five minutes out. He lives around the corner.”
My heart is racing. How are we ever going to get back from this? Just when things between us were moving forward, this happens. Fuck!
The driver pulls up out the front of Yves’ Paris apartment as Daniel’s friend arrives. They shake hands and talk about a plan.
“Louis, this is Marcus.” We shake hands and both do a chin lift.
“I’m not waiting,” I warn them both.
“Depending on what we find…” my stomach sinks at Marcus’ words, “… I’ll give you your moment with him.” Marcus looks at me seriously. “I promise you that.”
I nod.
We make our way to the apartment with my fingers crossed that Yves isn’t smart enough to have changed his code. I enter it in, and the door unlocks. Fuck! Someone up there is looking out for me. All three of us rush in across the courtyard, then through the doors that lead to the stairs. We make our way up four floors to where his apartment is located. We take them two at a time, every minute she’s with him is killing me.
We make it to his level.
“Let me pick this lock. I need to catch him with my own eyes to prosecute. Okay?” Marcus tells me to which I reply, “Hurry the fuck up.”
He picks the lock in under a minute, then he stands and pulls his gun from his holster and holds it out in front of him. We rush through the hallway behind him, and we all stop. In front of us is an unconscious Emily on the couch, and Yves is ripping her dress clean off her body.
“Stop. Police.”
Yves freezes. His face pales when he sees a gun aimed at him.
Then they widen when he sees me charging at him.
“You motherfucking piece of shit.” My fist slams into his face as we roll to the floor.
Yves fights me—I get a punch to the stomach which winds me, but I don’t care and just shake it off launching myself at him again. My