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He held himself very still as he heard her move away because if he made the slightest
movement, he d be turning and going after her. Locking the door so she couldn t escape.
Keeping her here.
He d once thought he d never do that to her, but love changed the equation. Made
people do stupid things. And he didn t trust himself around her, not an inch.
Her footsteps sounded on the floor as she made her way to the door. Then they
receded, going down the hallway.
It s good she s going. She needs to be far away from you.
Yeah, it was a good thing. She needed to be free, not trapped and suffocated by him.
The front door of his apartment shut with a heavy, final sound.
Jax stood in his lounge, staring at the lights of the city in the darkness beyond, his
hands in fists at his sides, a raw, angry pain throbbing in his chest.
She d torn something from him and he knew what it was.
Snow White had taken his fucking heart.
Chapter 11
The hotel wasn t the nicest but it was the best Pandora could afford on the one salary
payment she d gotten from Morrow. The wallpaper was dingy, the carpet old, there was a
suspicious looking stain near one of the windows, and she could hear the couple next
door having sex but hey, it could have been worse. She might have had to pay extra for
the Internet.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, her laptop open on her lap, Pandora opened her Web
browser and typed in the URL of a major news Web site.
Jax had said he was going to break it off today and it would be good to know if that
was the case. Along with her laptop, she d grabbed a few clothes on her way out of the
apartment yesterday, including a hat and sunglasses she d need them when the news
broke and the press went nuts.
The ache that had settled behind her heart the moment Jax s door had shut behind
her, throbbed. Stupid. Leaving him had been the right thing to do. The only thing to do.
She d done it for herself so it really shouldn t be hurting quite so damn much.
It wasn t like she was in love with him or anything. Love was nothing but bars on a
window. A key locking a door. A cage keeping you in. And she couldn t stand that.
Freedom. That s what she d wanted. That s all she d wanted.
Blinking furiously against the prickling behind her eyes, Pandora glanced down at her
laptop screen.
And there it was.
Morrow Calls It Quits. The engagement of the year is off as the relationship between
Jax Morrow and fiancée Pandora Garret shatters & .
Pandora swallowed, her throat tight, the pain in her heart growing sharp little spines,
digging in. So he d done it. He d called off their engagement. Cut all her ties to Morrow.
Great. Freaking wonderful.
Abruptly she shoved her laptop away and slipped off the bed, walking the narrow,
cramped length of the room then coming back again. A restless, hollow feeling coiled in
her gut. Like she was missing something.
Dammit, why didn t she feel better? Why wasn t she thrilled with the news?
She could go anywhere she wanted. Do anything she wanted. She was free. Truly
free.
But still that pain in her heart wouldn t go away.
You know why.
No. It wasn t love. It wasn t. Freedom was what she d wanted.
Are you so very sure?
Her throat hurt, her eyes burned. She turned and stumbled back to the bed, sitting on
the edge of it. Then she bent her head, pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes.
Light burst behind her closed lids like fireworks.
No, shit, it was Jax she wanted. Jax she d been so hungry for. Right from the start he d
given her all the things in her life she d been missing. Freedom. Passion. Confidence in
herself. Safety. Love & .
Tears filled her eyes and she had to press her hands against her lids harder. Jax had
told her he loved her and yet he let her go.
Unlike Dad.
Pandora blinked and raised her head, realization tipping over her like a bucket of ice
water.
For years her father had told her that he was keeping her safe, keeping her protected
for her own good. Yet he hadn t given a shit about her, not really. Because if he d truly
loved her, he d have let her go.
Like Jax had &
It was lack of love that trapped. That confined. Love on the other hand &
Love set you free.
Pandora brushed away the tears that kept leaking out despite her best efforts. Okay,
so, yeah. She was in love. She was in love with Jax Morrow. Which meant she had some
decisions to make.
But first there was a small matter to handle. The small matter of her father.
Jax had told her he d got his private investigators onto digging up dirt on Nick, but she
knew he hadn t managed to find anything, at least not yet. Which meant his
announcement of their broken engagement would put her father s blackmail plan in
motion.
Well, she wasn t going to let that happen. No matter he said he d deal with it, that she
wasn t to investigate her own father. This was her mess as well as his and she couldn t
let him take the fall alone.
She wasn t Snow White lying in her coffin, helpless and sleeping. Hell no. She was the
fucking prince.
Pandora pulled the laptop to her. It didn t take long to bring up the right site and sure
enough, the backdoor she d left in the firewall all those years ago was still there. Five
seconds later, the firewall was in ruins.
She smiled. The Morrows weren t the only family in the world who had secrets.
*
Hours later, she made her way to the apartment building that had been in her father s
schedule and waited outside it. It didn t take long for him to come out.
The bulletproof limo was already waiting at the curb, Thing One and Thing Two plus a
whole lot of other Things milling around. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]