Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
“Oh,” I say softly. “He’s going to make a full recovery, though?”
“Looks like it,” Derek mutters, but his eyes are on me and they’re active.
I feel like I’m being assessed; it feels awkward.
I open my email and scan the inbox, which has no new messages.
His eyes are still on me.
I meet his gaze and wait. “Is there something else?” I ask.
He says nothing but continues to stare and it might be ten seconds or something, I don’t know, but it feels like thirty or longer and each one of them feels uncomfortable.
“I love you,” he finally says.
I say nothing.
He waits.
My phone rings and it’s a relief.
Alannah calling.
I answer, hoping he’ll walk away.
“Hey. How are you?” I greet.
“Craig’s cousin, Adam’s ex Jeannie?
“Uh huh…”
“She’s dead.”
My eyes bulge.
And I immediately look at him.
“Are you there?” she asks.
I try to pull in a breath. It’s not easy.
Derek is still leaning against the doorframe, watching me.
“How?” I manage, my gaze dropping to my desk.
“Found floating in the Scioto. They figure she either jumped or was pushed off a bridge.”
“What?” I whisper.
“Yeah. You alone?”
“No,” I say, continuing to examine the wood grain on the desk.
“They’re searching her place to see if there’s a note. I don’t think there’s gonna be a note.”
“No,” I whisper.
“That’s all I’ve got. You good?”
“No. Yeah, but no.”
“Yeah,” she says softly. “Call you later. Love you.”
“Love you,” I whisper.
I put the phone down, my vision blurring around the edges briefly, my heartrate picking up speed. I look up at him. I’m shaking.
He has a look of concern on his face.
“D-did you kill…” I force down a swallow and shake my head.
He’s straightened up. “Did I kill?”
“Jeannie?”
“Did I kill Jeannie?” he parrots.
“Adam’s ex.”
He stares blankly.
I shove my chair back and bolt upright and point. “You monster.”
His eyes narrow and his forehead crinkles.
“I will never, not fucking ever love you. Do you hear me? Never. Please get that through your sick head.”
His eyes turn so cold it chills me to the bone. I keep going, louder.
“No matter what you buy me, no matter how good you fuck me. Never. Because you’re a sick, demented individual. And I hope you get caught and put away for the rest of your psychotic life.”
I storm past him, but he catches my arm, which halts me.
“Chloe,” he starts to say, but I shout, “No!”
And then I repeat it in a near shrill scream. “No! My voice trembles as I say, “You can’t make someone love you this way. You can’t do these things like you’re above the law, Derek. I don’t care how much money your family has, how many shady connections. I hope you do get caught. I’ll be so relieved. So fucking relieved that I’ll finally get my life back. Because you’ll be behind bars. You said the only way I get rid of you is death, well there’s also prison. And prison works for me. Let go of me!”
“Tell me exactly what you’re accusing me of,” he requests with an eerie calm that makes my scalp prickle.
The sign of a sociopath, right?
“Fuck off!” I struggle and he subdues me, like always. “Let go!”
“Chloe, stop.” He lifts me up, carries me down the hall into the master bedroom. As soon as he puts me down, he pins me to the bed. “You’re hysterical right now and you’re also wrong.”
I’m writhe uselessly, unable to find any semblance of logic or control. “Don’t play stupid, Derek. You swore you wouldn’t lie to me. Not that I should believe anything you say. Not only have you raped, threatened, stalked, and blackmailed me, you’re responsible for the death of at least three people just since you met me? How can you think I’d ever love you?”
“Settle down!” he demands, and he’s beginning to lose his cool.
“It’s her fault you canceled the trip with me, but you were supposed to be out of town with me and if you were, your father wouldn’t have taken your mom to New York, right? Your mom got killed because Jeannie’s blog made you cancel our trip. So you chose to punish her by ending her life.”
“I didn’t kill her. I had no idea she was dead until now.”
I scoff.
“I’ve been busy trying to figure out what happened in New York, who ran my parents down and killed my mother. That and dealing with my fuckin’ head over my mother and of course… you.”
“I’m sorry about your mom, Derek, I said that already and I meant it.”
“I know you do, baby.”
I’m talking over him before he finishes his sentence, saying, “But the person who is the reason your mom is in New York is found dead. A person you probably threatened. Did you threaten her when you threatened Lan?”
“Yes.”
“You’re admitting you threatened her?”
“Yeah, of course I fuckin’ did. She needed to be stopped.”
“So you stopped her permanently.”