Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Fuck!” the man yells, grasping at his wound.
“You’re lucky I only gutted you instead of putting a bullet through your head like your accomplice here,” Easton spits on the dead body lying below us.
“I didn’t do anything!” the guy yells.
“Anyone who tries to touch my property dies.” His voice is gravelly, darker than I’ve ever heard him speak before, and it brings goose bumps to my skin. His grip on my arm is gentle, but I’m not scared of him the way I am of these two men.
Easton glances at my bathrobe over his shoulder, and says, “Cover yourself up.”
I immediately grab the fabric and clench it around myself tightly, still shaking from the ordeal.
Easton approaches the man from behind and shoots him in the foot. I jolt from the violence. The man weeps and begs. “Please … don’t kill me.”
“Kill you?” Easton laughs. “No, I want you to suffer. Just like she did when you decided you were going to help your buddy over there take what doesn’t belong to you.”
He covers his head with his arms as if that’ll protect him. “She was trying to escape! I swear, we were only going to take her back to you …”
“No, you were looking for a spot to use her for your own despicable greed. How fucking dare you touch my princess?”
My princess. He claimed those words, licked them as if they belong to him just as I do, and it makes a cold shiver run up and down my spine.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the man rambles. “Please, I wanna live.”
I swallow away the lump in my throat as Easton cleans his gun with a steadfast hand. It’s as if he didn’t even break a sweat while shooting them.
The sky breaks open, and rain starts to pour down. More staff members exit the mansion, all appalled by the scene in front of them.
“Nick. Call the guys from the company,” Easton says to one of his employees.
Nick nods and fishes his phone from his pocket before going back inside.
“Are you okay?” Jill suddenly whispers into my ear, and she places her hands on my shoulders. “I was so worried about you climbing out that window.”
“I’m fine,” I whisper back, trying not to alert Easton, who’s still busy trying to take care of that one guy on the ground … and the dead body lying mere feet away from me.
“Why did you do it?” she asks while I start to shiver from the cold rain soaking my bathrobe. “You could’ve died.”
“Because …” I shrug. What answer can ever satisfy her or Easton? Freedom is all I ever wanted but not like this. Not when I risk one of his own men attacking me… and for one of them to die right in front of me.
Jill picks up the pager from the ground and checks it thoroughly before tucking it back into my pocket.
After talking with a few staff members, Easton suddenly turns around to face me and looks me dead in the eyes. “Are you hurt?”
The bluntness of the question brings heat to my cheeks. I shake my head, still unnerved by his ability to change the subject this fast even though he just killed someone in cold blood. “A bit … rattled. That’s all.”
That’s an understatement, but I don’t want to put him further on edge by telling the truth.
He licks the droplets of rain off his lips, his intense eyes blazing with a fervor I’ve never seen before. He’s soaking wet, but he doesn’t even seem to care about the rain. “Did they try anything on you?”
“I …” His deep stare disorients me. I look around at all these people staring at me, and my throat jams completely. “I—” I stutter, my lips trembling while my mind contorts as it tries to twist these awful memories into something palatable.
“Jill,” Easton interrupts. “Take her inside and make a bath. Get her clothed and fed.”
“Yes, sir,” Jill says, and with a warm hand, she grabs mine, and says, “C’mon.”
The sweet smile on her face lures me back inside, back into that mansion I call my prison. But that same place calms me and allows me to breathe. Even though Easton’s still outside while I’m being pulled inside. Even though he just killed a man and the mere thought brings shivers to my body. I don’t know what made him such a violent man, but it saved me from a fate worse than death.
The melancholic look in his eyes is the last thing I see as the door behind me closes, maybe for good … But I’m not fearful anymore.
Chapter 18
Charlotte
It’s strange how safe and secure I feel in this place I shouldn’t ever call home.
The guy who tried to claim me as his own is dead, and the other one is probably on his way to meet the same fate. The Company, whatever it is that Easton called them, will probably dispose of the bodies and deal with the aftermath while Easton continues his business as though nothing ever happened.