Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
“He’s going to keep hurting her,” I cry, never having felt this type of intense helplessness before.
“I know,” Tanner says, his voice grim and thick with devastation. “That’s why she needed you to go.”
“What?” I breathe, pulling back and looking up at him. “What the hell are you talking about? She told me to go because she didn’t want me accusing her fucktard husband of being an asshole.”
Tanner shakes his head. “I don’t think so,” he says. “It took me a minute to see, but after you asked her if he was holding something over her, it clicked.”
“What clicked?” I demand, stepping out of his arms and hastily wiping my face. “I don’t understand.”
“I … fuck,” he says with a heavy breath, moving across his room and running his hand back through his hair. “There’s something I need to tell you, and you’re not going to like it. Hell, you’ll be even more pissed that I haven’t said anything about it, but I think once you know, it might help you understand what’s going on with your mom. At least, what I think is going on. I could be wrong.”
I clench my jaw, nerves pulsing through my body. “What do you mean there’s something you need to tell me? I thought we got everything out in the open yesterday? There weren’t supposed to be any more secrets between us.”
“I … it’s not exactly a secret. I didn’t want to tell you because I know how this will make you feel.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Tanner sighs and drops onto the edge of his bed. “Come here,” he says, patting the space beside him.
I shake my head and make a point of crossing my arms over my chest and remaining exactly where I am. “Spill it, Tanner.”
He presses his lips into a hard line and nods before scrunching his face, not wanting to talk about whatever the fuck this is, but he’s backed himself into a corner and I won’t be taking no for an answer. “You know when I was being held in that cell and Channing came to chat?”
“You mean blackmail you?”
“Yeah, that,” he mutters darkly. “Yesterday you asked me what his reasons were for threatening me with exposure—”
“Because you’re the brother of his client’s victim,” I finish. He mentioned a few other reasons, but I know damn well that is the most likely option. “You know as well as I do, this is his way of trying to get payback for the fist-sized bruise you left across his jaw.”
“It’s more than that.”
Unease rocks through me, and I don’t like the way his eyes harden. “What do you mean?” I ask shakily, watching him closely for every little change in his expression.
“In the cell, he was saying how I was being so bold for someone whose girlfriend lives under his roof, so when I subtly let him know the things I would do to him if he ever touched you, he implied that he had bigger plans for you.”
“Huh?” I grunt, not understanding where the hell this is going.
“He said you’re nothing but a careless woman whose sole purpose is to cater to a man, and once he’s had his fill of your mom, he’d be taking you too.” Bile burns up my esophagus. “He said that my job was to wine and dine you, keep you warm and well-trained until he’s ready for you. He said something about teaching you how to become a perfect wife in public and a fucking whore in bed.”
Tanner glances down, unable to meet my eye. “And when you told him how that was going to go down?” I question, knowing damn well a suggestion like that would have been met with nothing short of a million fatal threats from Tanner.
“He threatened to release the photographs.”
I nod, the very thought of it making me sick, but while I want to throttle him for not telling me, I understand why he didn’t … couldn’t. Me knowing doesn’t serve any purpose other than to make me want to throw up. It’s not something that will ever happen, not even close, but what I don’t understand is how he thinks this has anything to do with my mom. “Okay, so Orlando is a dirty pervert who wants to use me as some kind of prize in public and a personal sex slave at home, but how does this have anything to do with Mom kicking me out?”
“Because I think she knows, and I think this is her way of trying to protect you, trying to keep you away from that house.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “No, it’s not possible. She’d never let it happen.”
“But what if she had no choice?” he says. “What if she was forced into a marriage with him and now she’s doing everything in her power to keep you away from the same fate?”