132

JADE

The shock of seeing him rendered me speechless. Motionless. breathless. Everything stopped. My entire world stopped.

I felt a hand on my lower back. It felt barely like the bus of a feather and I wanted to turn and be sure it was Antonio, except I couldn’t bring myself to look away from him. I didn’t know who was pinning the other with his gaze. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it was him. He always seemed to have the upper hand.

“Jade,” Atlas said, this time his voice was louder and he sounded more confident.

“What are you doing here?” The voice sounded like mine, but I was as surprised as the men standing there when I heard just how vinous and cold I sounded.

“I-i wanted to see you.”

I folded my arms across my chest and stared up at him. My expression was blank and that made him take a very small step back. Unless you were very close to him, you wouldn’t have noticed the small backtrack.

“Why?” I wasn’t relenting.

The strength in my voice and how I and hiding my true feelings was