Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
All of those things bundled into one, forcing me to cower before him.
“I’m here for you.”
Panic washes over me.
“Me? Why?” My voice is barely audible.
“You don’t know?” He frowns.
I shake my head thoroughly.
His eyes twitch as they narrow, and he comes even closer. “Interesting.”
“I don’t understand—”
Suddenly, his hand reaches for my face, the back of his index finger sliding ever so softly down my cheek, spreading goose bumps all over my body. “I can give you the one thing you’ve wanted but never dared to ask for.” A dangerous smile spreads leisurely on his face. “True release.”
Release? What does he mean?
The look on his face darkens. “Now tell me the truth.”
I back away as he takes a step closer … and closer … and closer. “What truth? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do, Amelia,” he muses.
He plants a hand on the wall beside me. “I know what you did.”
I shudder in place as his energy drips over onto me, making me lose my will to fight.
I don’t know why I’m overcome with the sudden urge to cry and scream, but he covers my mouth before I can.
“Shh,” he whispers. “Don’t want them to hear us.”
“Please,” I mutter through his hand.
He cocks his head. “I only want one thing from you.”
Dread fills my bones, but something else is brewing underneath the surface of my skin. Something I can’t describe as anything other than shame. Something I’m desperately trying to hide.
“Tell me,” he says as he leans so close I can feel his breath on my skin, “your biggest secret.”
My lips part, but all that exits is a choking sound.
He smiles as his hand leaves my mouth, but still, I can’t utter a single word.
“You want to tell me, but you can’t … can you?” His eyes narrow, and he grabs my chin and forces me to look at him.
Tears spring into my eyes. “I don’t know—”
“Yes. You. Do.” That same commanding tone makes my whole body tremble. “But if you refuse to tell me, I’m going to ask you a different question: What is your darkest desire?” He plants his hand on the wall behind me again and grips my chin so firmly that I can’t look away. “Your darkest wish?”
My brain is no longer in control as my heart splutters the words before I realize what’s happening. “I want to be punished.”
What did I just say?
His eyes sparkle with excitement as a dirty grin spreads across his lips.
“Good little angel,” he murmurs.
Before I can think about it, before I can even utter another syllable, he’s already grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the library.
“Wait, I’m not done with my work yet, and I—”
He stops near a limo and opens the back door. “Get in.”
I contemplate turning around and walking back inside, but something about the way he looks at me stops me. There’s a possessiveness in his eyes that I can’t ignore, like a warning that if I overstep, he will intervene. And I know full well what he’s capable of.
So instead of fighting him, I sigh and huddle inside.
The door is shut, and the silence that follows is deafening.
What am I doing here? Why did I say those words? What the hell is wrong with me?
The door on the other side of the car opens, and he slides inside, closing it shut behind him. The locks are flicked, and he signals the driver to start the vehicle.
Fear makes me panic again.
Oh God … what did I get myself into?
“What’s going to happen to me?” I ask as he turns his head toward me.
An obscene smile forms on his face, one that predicts both fury and exquisite pleasure.
“I’m going to make your wish come true.”
Chapter 6
Eli
I never imagined she’d come without a fight.
Not a single ounce of resistance as if it had all drained from her. It was as though the light had disappeared from her eyes, like snow before the sun.
All because of a few words.
Tell me your darkest secret, your deepest wish … and I will make it come true.
I don’t take those words lightly. I mean them when I say them, and I will hold myself accountable. A promise is a promise, and I don’t take those lightheartedly.
Even if she might not understand the words she uttered or why.
I know.
I know everything I need to know about her, everything to make her yield.
I admit, it was part selfish desire to force her to come with me, but I couldn’t just take her. No, it had to be her own choice, her own willful acknowledgment of what she needed.
Me.
“Where are you taking me?” she asks, her timid little body still trembling against the couch like a meek animal that knows it’s trapped.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” I reply.
I press the button on the side of the door, and the barrier between the front seat and the back seat rises.