Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
No. Oh, no.
"That's easier said than done when your fucking brother won't stay in one place," Constantine growls. "He's a paranoid son of a bitch."
"He stole half a million dollars from underneath the Carmona Kings. I'm guessing he's real fucking paranoid right now," my dad says drily. "We've done everything we can to keep the truth from leaking so he doesn't rabbit again, but we're building a house of cards. He'll be even more paranoid if he finds out that Aurora is home and Millie is in jail."
"Yeah, well, knowing you're going to die will do that to you."
I stumble away from the door with my hand clamped over my mouth. At least that's my intention. Instead, I stumble right into the door, knocking it open.
My dad is pacing in the center of the room. Constantine's leaning against the corner of his desk, his arms crossed over his broad chest. He whips his head in my direction, takes one look at my face, and leaps to his feet.
"Aurora." He takes a step in my direction.
I back away from him with a frantic shake of my head, stumbling into the wall. My mind races, but my thoughts are a chaotic jumble. I don't know what to say. I don't know what I think. Or how I feel.
Uncle Brady is alive. He's the reason I spent two months locked in a bedroom with Victor Carmona threatening to murder my dad every day. He's the reason my dad aged five years while I was gone. He's the reason Victor wouldn't let me go.
And the man I love—the one who rescued me—and my dad are plotting to kill him for it. Because of me, my dad will spend the rest of his life knowing that he helped kill his own brother. Constantine will spend the rest of his life with another death on his conscience.
"Starlight," Constantine says. "It's okay. You're okay."
Except…I'm not. None of this is okay.
He takes another step toward me, holding out his hand.
I look at it. Look at him.
And run.
I don't stop until I'm outside, and my side twinges. I fall to my knees in the grass, gasping for breath. Choking on my tears. On guilt. On two months of fear. It all crashes down on me at once and I can't breathe through it.
God, why can't I breathe?
I wrap my arms around myself, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Aurora!"
The fear in Constantine's voice only makes me cry harder.
The sound of running steps reaches me, and then he's at my side. He falls to the grass beside me. He's not breathing hard. Naturally.
"Baby," he whispers, reaching for me.
"W-w-why m-me?" I sob. "W-why, Constantine?"
"Starlight. Baby." He plucks me up from the ground, pulling me onto his lap. His strong arms surround me, wrapping me up in him. And that only makes me cry harder. He's so good to me. So damn good to me.
"D-d-don't do it. You c-can't do it."
He rocks me in his arms while I cry harder than I ever have before, grief, guilt, and anger pouring from me in a flood. He doesn't make me any promises.
Part of me—the tiniest part I've never even met until now—is glad.
And that makes me cry harder.
Maybe I'm not so innocent after all.
"I didn't want you to find out that way."
"Were you g-going to t-tell me at all?" I ask, resting my head on his shoulder when the tears finally run out. We haven't moved at all. We're out near the pond on the property. My dad came out a little while ago to check on me and then went back inside.
"Eventually." Constantine sighs, running his fingers through my hair. "After it was said and done. You shouldn't have to carry it, Aurora."
"Neither should either of you. You're going to k-kill him because of me."
"No." He crooks a finger beneath my chin, gently but firmly turning my face up to his. "I'm going to kill him because he's dangerous. You aren't the first person he's hurt. You're simply the one who matters to me. But he's hurt a lot of people, a lot of good people, Aurora."
"He's my uncle." My bottom lip quivers.
"He doesn't deserve the title."
"It isn't fair."
"To who? To him?" Constantine snorts. "He helped arrange your abduction and then stole the ransom money, leaving you with a cartel that's sold dozens of women into slavery. That's what isn't fair, starlight. Death would have been preferable to what else they might have done to you, Aurora. Because the other option? No one survives that for long without wishing for death." Rage brews like a storm in his eyes. "He doesn't deserve your empathy. He had none for you when he abandoned you to that fate."
"It isn't fair to you. It isn't fair to my dad."
"You think doing this to protect you is a sacrifice on my part?" He shakes his head, his expression softening. "When will you learn, starlight? There's nothing in this world worth having without you. I've been stumbling through the dark for thirty-four years. I didn't know light until I met you."