Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I didn't choose him.
I was coerced.
Whiskey has a way of manipulating me. He knows I'll do whatever it takes to protect my family.
He's found my weakness and he's exploiting it. Seizing as he sees as his opportunity.
Now, I'm his wife for the next year.
I'm counting down the days until my time is up.
Until I'm free.
However, it doesn't seem to matter how devious he is, or the fact he's my father's friend.
When he's near, I want him to stay.
I hate how I love being married to my devious husband.
Devious Beloved is a STANDALONE and was previously published as Cruel Beloved, it has been rewritten and over ten thousand words added.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER 1
WHISKEY
He screams as my foot applies more pressure.
“Whiskey.”
I ignore Barry as he pulls at my arms, but I shake him off. He wants me to leave. I want to leave as well. At least I think I should want to leave. But first…
As I press my foot down further, his screams grow even louder. It’s like music to my ears.
My life has been hell, and inflicting pain on others has been a release from the torment that has been eating away at me.
“He doesn’t want him dead, Whiskey.” Barry tries to pull me away again. But the screams from John at my feet tell me he’s about to give me what I want.
“You’ve had a change of heart, haven’t you?” I ask him. He nods, and I smile, pressing down one last time as his screams fill the rest of the room. I turn to Barry and give him a smug grin I hope conveys I fucking told you.
“You’ll break his cock, Whiskey. Fuck. Come on, man.” Barry winces as he takes a step back, obviously feeling the phantom pains of what I’m inflicting on John. Barry has always been fine with me shooting a man and breaking legs, but because of where my foot is, he’s uncomfortable. The crunching sound his cock makes when my foot applies pressure does make me cringe too—just a little.
“I’ll do it. I’ll back him. I’ll do whatever. Just please,” he pleads. I release my foot from his cock, and he instantly cups it with his hands. Bitch. He won’t be safe until I get what I want out of him.
I bend down so we’re eye to eye.
“If you mention this to anyone…” I nod to where his hand is. “I’ll come back and finish the job.” I stand and walk out, Barry hot on my heels as we reach the car. He doesn’t speak as we drive.
“You need to stop doing his dirty work,” Barry says, his hands on the steering wheel.
“I will.”
“Whiskey, man, you are richer than him. Richer than any man I know. You don’t need the money, so why?”
“It’s an outlet.” And that’s as much as I can tell him. We stop at the senator’s house. It’s dark but I know they’re home. The cars are all parked in the driveway. I get out just as the front door flies open, and she runs out. It may have been a few years since I last saw her, but I would recognize her anywhere.
His daughter. I should hate her on principal. I hate him.
I watch as she pulls on a hat, her red locks hiding under it. She doesn’t see me at first, but I step closer. It’s as if she’s trying to escape, to where I don’t know. But she clearly doesn’t want to be seen.
She walks directly in my path––clearly more worried about looking at the house, rather than her surroundings––not watching at all and she smacks straight into me.
“Oh, my god! Oh, shit.” Her hands touch my chest. “I’m so sorry. I was…” She points over her shoulder as she looks back to me, and her green eyes lock onto me. This is no longer the young girl that used to follow her father and me around the grounds. I try remembering her age, then I recall the invitation last month— the invitation to her eighteenth birthday party. “Look, can you please not tell him? He thinks I’m sleeping, and I would rather him not know. Please?” I say nothing as I watch her mouth move. She’s a pretty little thing. But too young.
Too young.
I’m almost thirty; even looking at an eighteen-year-old sounds wrong. But in this moment, I can’t look away from those emerald orbs that are practically pleading with me.
“Do you speak?” she asks, and a hint of a smirk touches my lips. “Fine, whatever. Just don’t tell him.” She pulls down on her hat and steps around me. I watch as she runs down the driveway and out to the road where a car waits for her. She climbs in, and I exhale. I was here to tell the senator the job is done. But honestly, now I don’t care to tell him anything. Instead, I go back to the car and climb in. It’s time to make a change, and the first part is to stop doing his dirty work.
This night, I dream of a little redhead.
CHAPTER 2
LOTTIE
SEVEN YEARS LATER
“This isn’t going to work, take your ring back.”
It’s been weeks since I ended my engagement.
It was the smart thing to do.
I didn’t love him, even if my father did.
His kisses were dry, his hands were always cold. And the way he looked at me made my skin crawl. I couldn’t imagine having to spend my days with a man like him.
He was marrying me for one reason and one reason only: my father.