Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 143453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
And then he ends the call.
“I didn’t finish talking with her,” I protest, dabbing at my eyes with the back of my hand.
“Anything you offer her would be an excuse that she won’t understand in her current state. She needs time to process what she’s learned, and hopefully, she’ll come to the logical conclusion that whatever she had with the boy is ill-fated.”
“The boy had nothing to do with what his father did. He was only a toddler back then.”
“No, he didn’t, but the truth remains that I was the one behind his parents’ deaths and his family’s demise. He’ll only look at Annika as my daughter, and I will not allow him to put her through such torture.”
“She’ll hate us…”
My husband’s large hand cradles my cheek and he strokes gently, causing tiny shock waves to erupt on my skin. “A few years down the line, she’ll know we did this to protect her.”
But at what price?
Adrian has always been methodical and solution-oriented, so he doesn’t care much about feelings, but I do.
And I know, I just know that we might have accidentally killed a part of Anni that we’ll never be able to get back.
28
CREIGHTON
There was a plan all along.
The universe’s.
My parents’.
Landon’s.
Everyone had a course of life and a path to follow from the beginning.
The universe decided my biological parents didn’t deserve to live and destroyed my life in retrospect.
Mum and Dad thought any information about my past was unnecessary so they went to immaculate lengths to hide it from me.
Landon needed me as his instigator of chaos, the variable that he used to have the Heathens and Serpents clash without getting the Elites involved, so he withheld information.
But he had my revenge in mind.
That’s what he called it earlier, after he casually mentioned that he kidnapped Nikolai because we can use him to draw out Jeremy.
“Once the Heathens’ leader is here, you can punch him, kill him. Get your long-awaited revenge. What’s better than punishing the parents’ sin by taking away their only heir?”
Eli thinks Landon said that so I would let him go, but his words aren’t far from the truth.
I’ve stayed locked up in my room since, sitting in the dark for hours, a whole day even, staring at my bloodied hands.
It’s not enough.
This amount of blood is simply not enough.
There needs to be payback. Eye for an eye. Life for a life.
And since the parents are untouchable, the children will pay on their behalf.
Just like I did over seventeen years ago.
That would hurt them much more anyway, considering they poured all their lives into raising them to be the future leaders of the Volkovs.
A tinge of pain explodes behind my rib cage, achy at first but soon becoming absolutely unbearable.
The thought of her slashes through my bruised chest and brutally confiscates my air.
I always considered myself a little bit heartless, but it was Annika who proved that I actually do have a heart.
Only, it’s reserved for a select few, an exclusive list that she somehow found her way onto.
A closed door that she barged right through.
A tall wall that she crumbled to the ground.
But for what purpose?
We’ve come to this point where I won’t only break her heart, but I’ll also ruin her until there’s nothing left to pick up.
Annika has always looked at me as a god. Little did she know that the altar she worshiped at belongs to a tyrant god.
In the darkness of my room, I can barely see my hands. I barely exist.
It’s like I’m floating out of my body in a parallel world.
Tiger mewls from his position by my foot. He hasn’t left my side since I locked myself up in here. He’s just rubbed himself all over me.
I pat his head and then I grab him and place him outside my door so that he can find Bran or Remi.
After locking myself in my room again, I fish out my phone to read and re-read the last text she sent.
Particularly the last part.
I miss you. I want to kiss you.
My fingers tighten around the phone, then I throw it against the wall with enough force that it shatters and clatters on the ground.
The room becomes suffocating with my heavy breathing and her fucking violet scent. It’s all over my sheets, my bathroom, my wardrobe.
I might have been the one who dominated her, but she’s the one who’s left her mark everywhere.
In my air, on my skin, and down to the marrow of my fucking bones.
Standing up, I pull on the sheet covering the mattress and throw it to the ground. I smash a lamp and then use it to wreak havoc on everything in the bathroom.
Her shampoo, her perfume, her toothbrush, her fluffy towels. I accidentally cut my hand and smear them with blood.
By the time I’m done, I’m breathing heavily and everything is as broken as I am.