Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Blade, Carol, and I had dinner out once or twice a month, but nothing fancy.
When I left my father, I’d left that world behind.
This would’ve been me if I had stayed, if I had lived.
If.
That was a big word there.
I’d been happy with Blade and Carol, but being here, coming back to this world, a small what-if had started to take root in me. It wasn’t the what-if of Brooke staying at school, or of somehow growing up with the Bennett family. It was what-if my father had been a different man, if my mother hadn’t been abused by him, if I hadn’t been scared of living in my own home—that what-if. What would life have been like if I’d had a normal family?
Not even wealthy.
If we’d had a meal at a restaurant? If there’d been no factories or business conglomerates, no privileged schooling, just a father, a mother, and a child? A home with three bedrooms instead of three wings? Or one bathroom instead of one entire servant quarters?
What would that life have been like?
I sighed, fixing my hair back into a high bun, and I even put on makeup. All those thoughts were useless. That wasn’t the card I was dealt growing up, and in the end, I was alive. I had a mission, an important mission to focus my life, and that was good.
I was good.
I slipped my feet into a pair of sandals, but I felt naked walking out of that room without a sweater, runners to run, or any type of covering I might need if I had to make a break for my life.
No matter the thoughts swirling in my head, that part of me would never be gone. But for the first time ever, I began to wonder if that’s what I wanted for the rest of my life.
The guards trailed behind me as I left my wing.
I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I walked in the general direction of the main part of the house. The hallway wound around, coming to a second-floor landing, and I crossed to the stairs. I could hear the sounds of cooking in the kitchen, which was behind the stairs. The layout was similar to their other house, and I walked in feeling a little more at ease.
Until I saw Kai.
He stood in the shadows at the window, a glass of bourbon in his hands, and his profile took my breath away.
Moonlight lit the entire bay, and lights from boats and homes beneath him put a soft glow over his face. I faltered mid-step.
The attraction burst inside me, heating me, making me ache, and I clamped my mouth shut in reaction.
I hadn’t asked for these feelings. They disgusted me on the regular, but he’d been gone for three days, and it was all hitting me full force now.
But Blade. I couldn’t forget Blade.
I couldn’t forget myself. My situation.
I was here against my wishes, but as Kai turned to look at me, a dangerous new what-if edged its way in alongside the others.
My hand shook, and I tucked it behind me, meeting his gaze across the room.
His eyes warmed, a softness shining there, and he nodded. “You look beautiful, Riley.”
So did he.
I smiled and ducked my head. “Thank you.” A wave of nerves hit me again, and I had to stop and breathe to calm myself. It didn’t work. I was even more nervous.
“Would you like a drink?”
“Please.” I raised my head.
He turned his back to me as he poured a glass of wine.
I was glad for the small favor and smoothed a hand down my front. Sometimes that helped. It didn’t tonight. I began to think nothing would take the edge off until Kai turned back, a full glass of red wine in his hand.
He held it up. “Brooke always liked this wine. I thought…”
I nodded. “Thank you. That’s perfect.”
“Perfect?” He raised an eyebrow, handing it over.
I grabbed the stem of the glass, avoiding his hand, and I knew he took note.
He stepped back. “Perfect is a big word, especially for someone who’s still here against her will.”
I paused in raising it to my mouth. “What?”
He motioned to the table.
There was a bowl, two plates, three glasses, and two sets of silverware for every seat. Every glass and plate had a gold rim at the edge. It was another reminder of this world I was visiting—a world where I used to live, or I should’ve.
Why was I thinking like this?
I loved being a Hider operative. And that wasn’t this world.
It never would be.
I sat and pulled my chair up to the table. “When are you going to let me go?”
There.
I had to leave, because staying here was messing with my mind. It was muddling everything.
“I thought you were going to bargain for your friend first.”
There was the Kai I knew. We were back on solid footing. I was the 411 Hider, and he was my kidnapper.