Madly Yours (Nora Reed) novel Chapter 266

Hudson's voice was deep and icy. "A year ago, you hit her, costing her her hearing for an entire year. Today, I'm going to let you hit her again. But..."

He paused, his gaze shifting to Juliette.

"Hit her."

Juliette's face instantly drained of color, and she began to struggle frantically. "No... no... Dorian! You can't listen to him!"

Dorian slumped on the ground and scoffed. "Don't worry, Juliette, I won't listen to them! Over my dead body!"

Hudson stood up, crushing his cigarette into his own palm. The embers died against his skin, yet he didn't so much as flinch.

"Then you can both die right here."

He tipped his chin toward Arthur.

Arthur pulled two shovels from the trunk and tossed them onto the ground.

A few men in black immediately stepped forward and began digging a hole in the sandy dirt by the ocean.

The shovels bit into the earth with a muffled thud. The hole grew wider and deeper.

Staring at the pit, a suffocating wave of terror crashed over Juliette. "No... no... I don't want to be buried alive..."

Her voice was shrill enough to pierce eardrums, tears streaming down her face like a broken string of pearls.

But the men ignored her, continuing to dig.

When the hole was waist-deep, Juliette finally broke.

"Dorian! Hit me! Hit me right now!"

"Juliette... I..."

Juliette's voice turned hysterical. "If you don't hit me, we'll both be buried alive! If you hit me, I'll just get injured. I won't die! But if they bury us, it's a death sentence!"

Dorian slowly walked over to the car, pulled the door open, and slid into the driver's seat.

The heavy slam of the door echoed in the night.

Two men in black dragged Juliette up from the ground, pinning her by the shoulders so she was forced to stay on the wooden pier.

The engine roared to life.

The headlights flared, two blinding beams cutting through the darkness and striking Juliette straight in the face, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut.

Squinting through the glare, she saw the car move.

The tires tore deep tracks into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust as the vehicle charged toward her like an enraged beast.

A hundred and fifty feet.

A hundred and twenty feet.

A second later, the car smashed through the wooden pier's guardrail and plunged headfirst into the water.

...

"Boss, the car went down. No sign of them," Arthur said from the edge of the broken pier, sweeping the beam of his flashlight over the dark waves.

Hudson narrowed his eyes slightly. "Search it."

Several men stripped off their jackets and dove in.

A short while later, one of them broke the surface, wiping saltwater from his face.

"Boss, the car is empty. The back window is shattered. They might have escaped through it."

Hudson frowned. "Keep looking."

Arthur nodded and signaled the men, who immediately dove back under.

Leaning against the hood of his car, Hudson pulled a cigarette from his pocket, clamped it between his lips, and turned his head to light it.

Right then, his fingers gave a slight tremble.

It wasn't from the cold.

It was that all-too-familiar tremor seeping from his bones, carrying a suppressed, suffocating wave of heat and violence.