Chapter 17: Hands Off

Elias's POV

Leigh's voice came out of the ceiling speakers, a little tinny and loud enough to reach the street.

"He proposed to me when I was twenty-two. You were what he had while I was away."

Four hundred people stopped talking at once.

I stood a step behind Marin with my hands at my sides.

She held the microphone near her chest and did not say a word. She let the recording talk.

"The ring is mine," Leigh's voice said. "He gave it to her so I could have it back for Maui."

Every head in the room turned to Leigh's right hand.

The silver heart ring was on her finger.

She pulled the hand behind her back, which was exactly what four hundred people had been waiting to see.

"That's edited!" Leigh said. Her voice cracked on it. "Troy, tell them it's edited!"

Troy was not looking at her.

He was looking at the sound booth, where Dean sat with one headphone on and his eyes on the room.

"Turn it off!" Troy shouted. "Dean! Turn it off!"

Dean didn't move.

Troy jumped down from the table.

I saw it coming before Marin did, because I had been watching his hands since the elevator.

He took the microphone from her with one hand, threw it on the floor, and closed the other around her wrist.

"You think you're clever?" he hissed. "You think you can take everything?"

Marin said nothing, but her face went tight with pain.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Too Late to Beg: I'm No Longer Yours from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.