Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Every time she tried to get free of his chains, a threat was made against her family. Threats that had grown increasingly more nefarious. Threats she knew he would make good on because she’d witnessed his barbarity multiple times. The people who went missing. The questionable deaths.
And when she didn’t cave to the fear he wielded, she was punished.
She cringed when she realized he’d felt her flinch, his presence making her want to vomit as he leaned in and whispered in her ear, as if he were a doting lover rather than a monster, “Watch yourself, Sweet Pea.”
Sickness boiled at the way he’d twisted her family’s endearment.
“It would be such a shame if something happened to your mother, wouldn’t it? She’s so innocent in all of this.”
He tsked it as he stroked his knuckle down the column of her throat. He’d insisted on the strapless dress, saying he loved the unblemished skin of her shoulders.
The scars he’d mercilessly inflicted were hidden underneath.
“Show my friends how beautiful your smile is,” he muttered with all the vileness he possessed.
She forced a smile, as if he’d been whispering sweet nothings to her, giggling as she turned to gaze at him. She wished with all of her that she could grab the steak knife next to her plate and drive it between his ribs.
He grinned as if he were pleased. But he never remained pleased for long.
Her hand flew to her mouth to cover the sob as she stared down at the positive pregnancy test that she’d taken in the bathroom at the store. Horror tumbled through her, a terror unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.
This couldn’t be happening.
It couldn’t.
She couldn’t bring a child into this depraved world.
She sank to her knees, gripped in a fear greater than she’d ever felt.
She held the baby boy against her chest, ran her fingers through the soft locks of his blond hair. Tears streamed incessantly.
But in them was a newfound ferocity.
A new determination that lined her bones in steel.
Because there was no risk too great to give this child a chance at the life he deserved.
So when her mother and father came into the hospital room when Frederick was taking a call, she curled her fist in her father’s shirt as he hugged her, and she begged at his ear, “I need your help.”
FORTY
CHARLEIGH
I blinked my eyes open to dark eyes staring back.
“Rise and shine, Char-Bug. It’s about time you woke up. I’ve been sitting here poking you in the arm for the last fifteen minutes, and you didn’t even budge. I’d think you’d be a little more excited to see me, but I guess you were probably hoping to be waking up to a different Tayte.”
Raven wagged her brows where she lay beside me with her hands curled under her cheek, blinking wide and teasing.
I couldn’t help the groggy laugh as I sat up and pushed back the matted mess of hair from my face. “No way. You’re way prettier than him.”
Raven sat up, too, fighting a smile. “Obviously.”
Then her expression deepened. “How are you feeling this morning?”
Memories of the night before flash-fired through my mind. River kissing me. His head between my thighs. His cock in my mouth.
A burn erupted on my skin, though my stomach squeezed with the emptiness of walking away.
“Tired,” I told her.
Tired of running.
Tired of being alone.
Tired of this fight that I knew I’d have to wage for the rest of my life.
Her nod was perceptive. “I get it, my sweet little Char-Bug.”
My lips tweaked at the edge. “Tell me you aren’t going to keep on with that.”
“Um, hello, of course, I am. You should have seen yourself last night while you were sleeping. All doe-like and dreamy with these little noises you make. Talk about adorbs. But you might have also mumbled a few…words.”
She slipped off the side of the bed and stretched her arms overhead.
“Do I even want to ask?”
“Well, one word,” she corrected with an emphatic bite to her bottom lip as she turned back around to look at me.
“What one word?”
“River.”
I groaned.
“Well, I’m not saying it was my brother’s name you were saying,” she said, fully razzing. “I mean, there are a lot of really gorgeous rivers around here and you might have been dreaming about canoeing or fishing or doing something outdoorsy like that. You know, since you like hiking so much.”
I choked out a laugh. Of course, she would rub that in. Then she really started rubbing it in. “Okay, let’s be real here. It was totally my brother’s name.”
She started moaning. “River, oh River. Give it to me.”
“Oh my God, stop,” I begged, my hands covering my face, voice rippling with both embarrassment and amusement.
“River,” she sang as she spun around in a circle. “Come to me, you beast of a man.”
“You are so ridiculous,” I choked as I chucked a pillow at her.