Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“You’re a monster.”
“More or less.” He grins.
“There will be no sex,” Kai’s voice cuts through our conversation.
My head snaps in his direction. “There won’t?”
“No. It was a test and you passed.”
I stare back at Ren and he grins again, showing his straight teeth. “You’re right. Your father would torture and kill me if I touched you. Though we could always do it behind his back?”
Oh.
So my father is really behind this.
I can’t help the taste of betrayal that gathers at the back of my throat. My little girl dreams incinerate, leaving a heap of ashes and slaughtered wishes. All these years, I’ve held on to a distant fantasy of reuniting with my father. I never thought it would be under such circumstances or that Sebastian could pay the price for it.
“What does he want?” I ask Kai because, for some reason, he seems to be the one in charge.
“It’s simple.” Kai tips his head in my direction. “You.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You see, he’s been wanting to reunite with you for as long as you have.”
“He could’ve just shown up instead of pulling this stunt!”
“Not with the way Riko has been poisoning your head about him, no. Everything requires the right timing.”
“Like how you pretended to be a damn PI?”
“I couldn’t let you go to some stranger when we have in-house intel, Ojou-sama.”
“So, now what?”
“You’ll agree to our terms and adopt your real name. Naomi Hitori.”
I’m sure their terms are equivalent to selling my soul to the devil. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone as far as kidnapping me, starving me, and shooting Sebastian.
They must know how much I care about him and that I would play right into their hands if his life was threatened.
And that’s true.
I don’t care what I have to do as long as it keeps him safe. If it means selling my soul for parts, so be it. He’s the one who made me well aware of that soul in the first place. It seems fitting to sacrifice it for him.
A part of me fractures and splinters into pieces all around me. I have no idea what awaits me, but something tells me it’ll be harder than anything I’ve ever been through.
The red night included.
I have to stay strong, though all I want to do is curl into Sebastian’s embrace and break down and cry in his arms. But I can’t do that if he dies.
I can’t do anything if he dies.
The decision is crystal clear in my head even as I fight the tears trying to escape. “I agree. But first, get Sebastian the help he needs. If anything happens to him, I’ll kill myself and deprive my father of the daughter he wants so much.”
10
Akira
Dear Yuki-Onna,
It’s me again. Your one and only.
Your true friend who doesn’t hesitate to call you out on your bullshit because no one else in your life does.
The only person who can actually see through your tough act and miserable life and enables you to smile even when everything crashes and burns around you.
Oh, and your pen pal. You know, someone you actually write letters to?
I didn’t receive a reply to my last two letters, in case you haven’t noticed, and I’m waiting in case you forgot—and no, you don’t get to ignore me.
You should’ve done that the first time I wrote to you. Now it’s a done deal and there’s no damn turning back.
I told you I would keep writing to you even if you don’t. I told you that my letters will show up at your door even if you hate them.
Is this punishment? Are you rebelling against me because of what I said in the last two letters? It’s useless, though. It’s not like I can magically get over the toxicity and live my life happily ever after in the city of unicorns and rainbows.
Besides, since when are you such a fragile snowflake who takes everything to heart? Did you develop other nasty habits I’m not aware of? Or maybe you’re just being a bitch at this point and living up to the image you painted in my head.
Either way, fuck you very much, Naomi. This isn’t how you’re supposed to end a toxic relationship. We should talk about it, as toxically as possible, and without sugarcoating.
I thought we were special. As fucked up as that sounds, special relationships don’t end just like that.
Special relationships don’t end, period.
So how about you pick up your pen and write me back?
It can be as simple as threatening to kill me in the form of Yuki-Onna. Or maybe you can tell me how much you hate me in the best way possible.
Whatever it is, write. You know you want to, even if you somehow followed a spiritual journey and had a million therapists tell you to end your ties with me.
They’re lying. It’s impossible. This will never end.