Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Unable to deal with my father and his coldness right now, I stood up from the chair and walked out of his room. But with every step I took the paralyzing sorrow started to build inside me, until it felt like a grenade about to explode in my chest. I rushed through the hallways, needing air. I clutched my chest as my brain took me to the very spot I didn’t want it to go. To Teresa and how scared she must have been today. To that moment she was dragged from the car and shoved roughly to her knees. More tears fell as I tried to imagine what it must be like to know for certain that in the next few minutes, she would no longer be. This was it. She wouldn’t see another tomorrow.
And I wondered if she felt any pain as she was shot through the head.
I prayed it was a quick death. It was the luxury that all of us in this life wished for, if taken by an enemy. A quick and painless death. Though, most of our enemies wouldn’t grant us this death—they’d want to make us pay.
When I burst out of the door, night had fallen. The hacienda’s grounds, although beautiful and blanketed in moonlight, suddenly felt like a prison. It was a feeling building more and more lately. The freedom I’d never had was suddenly becoming all I craved. Well, almost.
I ran into the landscaped gardens and into the high hedges. I didn’t know if anyone was around. At this moment, I didn’t care. I was lost, with no one to turn to . . . or, at least I did have someone—want someone. Unfortunately I was unable to go to him for fear of us being discovered.
Tanner’s face sprang into my mind at this moment. I didn’t know how we had gotten here, to this place. I didn’t know how he, the man I was never meant to like, let alone desire, had become my sun. Had become the star of my every waking thought. But he had. He had become my center—the anchor that kept me still.
But I didn’t know how, after tonight, I would survive. Because he was leaving. After four long visits, each time stealing another fraction of my heart and soul, tomorrow he would leave. The contract that kept him here was done. And there were no plans for him and his father to return.
Teresa . . . gone . . . Tanner . . . going . . .
Another sob soared from my throat and I sank down to the dirt. I set the tears free. I liberated the tears that were stinging my eyes to the point of pain. Drop after salty drop flooded my face, robbing me of breath. I never let myself give into my emotions, not even in private. I had been schooled to never let them rule me, to let them usurp my strength. But this time I couldn’t stop it. This time I gave in; I was lacking hope. This world I lived in wasn’t fair. My friend had just been shot dead—a risk we all lived with every single day. And the man I loved, the forbidden half of my heart, was leaving and there was no way we could ever be together.
“Lita?”
I started, looking up as a voice I so desperately wanted to hear drifted into my ears. Tanner came rushing toward me from a gap in the tall hedges. His face was racked with worry. He dropped down beside me and swept me into his arms. I allowed myself a second of his comfort before I pushed away from his warm embrace.
“No,” I whispered, scanning around us. “You can’t . . . we can’t . . . we can’t be seen.”
Tanner’s face frosted over, wearing the hard mask he once used on me. But not anymore. Now his face was soft, his blue eyes kind . . . and his touch was gentle whenever we were together. At times, I saw the war he fought in his tight expression. But he kept returning to me. Kept kissing my lips.
“Fuck that,” he said, voice low and stern. “You’re upset.” Tanner reached for me again. “I saw you running as I looked out the window of my room.” He dragged me back into his arms. This time I melted against him and let the foreign feeling of comfort seep into my bones. My head fell against Tanner’s hard chest and he cradled me against him. And I fell apart. There was no pride in being a Quintana right now. In this moment I was lost; Tanner was the man who had found me and given me a home.
“She has died,” I whispered. My voice shook, wrapped in a breathless rasp. “Teresa, my friend . . . was murdered by Faron Valdez today.” Tanner held me tighter as though he was struggling too. I lifted my head and saw that Tanner’s face was stone; his mood seemed glacial. His blue eyes flitted to mine. Then I saw it . . . Tanner Ayers let down his defenses and I saw what had him so troubled.