Kneeling for a Second Chance Novel

---- Chapter 450 Valeria was pale and soft, and whenever she spoke, her eyes crinkled when she smiled. She was like an angel out of a storybook. Lucas never forgot how she offered to sit with him. "Jane, I can get you out of here. I have money. I can give you the same kind of life you had with the Grants-wealth, comfort, and one without worries. We can leave the country , disappear somewhere nobody knows us, and start over. "Gabriella told me you're Wendy's daughter. She and Gabriella had planned this whole abduction.

If it weren't for me, you'd already be dead." He was the one who had set the place on fire. The flames had started on the first floor, but the second floor was also on fire. It indicated that time was running out. "It's either you die," Lucas offered, "or you come with me. Decide for yourself." Then, he added, "At least I loved you long before Sebastian ever did." Valeria never imagined that Lucas was the same scruffy kid from elementary school.

---- "Iremember you had a different last name back then, but I don't love you, Lucas." Her chest felt tight , her body weak, but she wasn't about to beg him to save her. She couldn't force out a lie that she had loved him when she never had. Her voice was raw but steady as she whispered, "Lucas, Ihate you." Back in high school, she'd never once thought that the scrawny boy who always got bullied in grade school would grow into one of the most intimidating people at school. "Was it all because my grades sucked? Because I pushed you around?

I tried to talk to you, but you ran every time you saw me. So, Ihad my guys block your way. "You never came to watch me play basketball. Every teenage girl in Nueve High School was cheering for me, except you. And that video I took of you cheering ? I just wanted to watch you dance again." Valeria froze. The surgical light above her was blinding, causing her to shut her eyes. Her hair clung in messy strands to her damp cheeks as she explained, "In love, it's not about who came first. Back in high school, I was bullied by the whole class, just like you were.

"And there was someone who reached out to me then-in the same way I once reached out to you. They saved me. I'm already in love with someone else. And I know he's out there ---- right now, fighting like hell to get to me. "The fire is climbing. Just leave if you won't untie me. Wait any longer, and you won't make it out either." Valeria's voice was hoarse but steady. She refused to give in, yet she stopped struggling. She merely lay there, feeling the air burning by the second. The blaze tore through the second floor, smoke thickening around her. Fora few seconds, the room was silent.

'Then, the straps around her wrists and ankles came loose. Valeria had been tied up all night, her limbs stiff and numb. She shifted slightly , only to realize Lucas was still there. In the next instant, he scooped her and threw her over his shoulder without a second thought. She was dangled upside down, her head spinning, hair falling straight toward the floor. "Lucas..." He carried her through the suffocating smoke. The heat seared, flames snapping at their heels. Somewhere close by, a woman's shrill screams cut through the fire. "Help me! Somebody help me, please!" ---- It was Gabriella.

She set the trap but ended up caught in it herself. Lucas carried Valeria back into the operating room. Smoke blurred everything into shadows . He forced open a second - floor window and leapt, holding her tight. They landed hard in the grass below. Valeria clung to him, her heart racing. For a split second, the danger seemed to fade. The air was still heavy with smoke, the heat from the fire rolling over them. Valeria never thought Lucas would save her. When she tried to pull away, he grabbed a fistful of her hair, holding her close. "Jane, you just broke two of my rib bones.

So, do me a favor. Quit hating me and be my friend." She looked at him with dry, cracked lips. Then, she whispered, "Thank you."