Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Ouch. “Bartholomew, my mother was murdered and I was raped—”
“And when your father turned on you, who was the one who saved you?”
I turned silent.
“I promised I wouldn’t let anything happen to you and I kept my word, so I’m sick of hearing that excuse.”
The tears escaped my eyes and came pouring down. “I don’t want you back because I want us to keep sleeping together. I don’t want the relationship we had before. I want something more. I want…whatever you’re willing to give me.”
His hostile stare wasn’t penetrated by my tears.
“I don’t care what you do for a living. I don’t care about the risk. You’re what I want… I’m sorry it took all this to make me realize that. Don’t ever think you aren’t good enough for me, Bartholomew. You’re…the first man who’s ever made me feel safe.”
His look hadn’t changed. “It’s too late, Laura.”
“It’s never too late.”
“I’ve already slept around.”
“I don’t believe that.” I knew he was a cold man, but I didn’t believe I had been miserable for the last week while he’d felt nothing at all. I refused to believe he’d slept with strangers while I slept alone. “You wouldn’t do that.”
He turned to the door and walked out.
No.
“Don’t call me unless you actually need something.” He said the words with his back to me as he walked down the hallway. “Otherwise, I’ll stop coming.”
5
BARTHOLOMEW
The vehicle stopped beneath the bridge.
Headlights went out. Engine went cold.
“Time to face the music, huh?” Like the coward I was, I hadn’t shown my face for a week. Production continued without a hiccup, so that gave me hope I hadn’t completely fallen from grace. “What can I expect?”
“Some of the men are angry,” Bleu said from beside me.
I gave a slight nod.
“But some know you didn’t have another choice.”
I didn’t deserve the rationale. “Alright.” I opened the door, and we entered the hidden entrance to the Catacombs. The place was dark and dank, but I felt the drop in energy the second I stepped inside. The men I passed stared at me, not in reverence or respect, but in the way you looked at an animal that just got hit by a car. You knew it was going to die in the next few minutes, and you wondered if you should just put it out of its misery now.
It was a long walk of shame, taking the winding passages lit by torches. The deeper inside I moved, the staler the air became. The dead stared back at me, and I wondered how fitting it would be if they added my skull to the collection.
After what felt like an eternity, I entered the cavern where we all gathered. The men drank at the tables, and all the conversation immediately died away once I joined them. It was so quiet, the sound of my boots echoed against the ceiling that was fifty feet in the air. My chair sat there, unoccupied, not appropriated like I feared it might be.
I could feel the collection of emotions throughout the room. Hatred. Betrayal. Pity.
Shit I hated.
All eyes were on me, so it was time to address the men who’d blindly followed me for so long. “I’m not one for words, so let’s cut the shit. I fucked up—and I fucked up bad. I won’t apologize, because an apology is a request for forgiveness, and I don’t deserve forgiveness. I won’t explain my actions because an explanation doesn’t justify the outcome. My only hope is we can move forward.”
“And move against the Skull King?” Silas sat on one of the benches, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, asking a question when he already had the answer. It was a provocation, an attempt at humiliation, forcing me to tell everyone in the room that I was a goddamn pussy.
“I gave my word I wouldn’t retaliate. And you know a man is only as good as his word.”
Silas stared me down, like hearing my answer angered him more. “That’s how you do Hector and John? They died for you—and you won’t even avenge them?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to—”
“But you won’t.”
I’d already lost considerable power because men usually didn’t speak to me that way, and if one of them did, my men would snap his neck without waiting for me to give the order. I was entirely on my own. “I gave my word.”
“Well, you gave us your word too. Look how that turned out.”
I held his gaze, keeping calm and bottling my frustration. “I’ve led the Chasseurs for a decade. In that time, our presence has grown to exceptional heights. We’ve taken Croatia as well as France. We have so much power that we’re untouchable by both the government and the police. In fact, we’re in bed with both of them. Our profits are immense, and I’ve always passed those profits on to you instead of keeping them all for myself. An error in judgment doesn’t dismantle all the victories that got us here. I ask you to remember that before you cast your prejudice.”