Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 72308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“She started off as a whore. But then I paid her to be mine. She moved in with me, became the woman in my life for three years. It wasn’t because I loved her, but because I was obsessed with her.”
Her eyes averted like a skittish fish in a tank.
“It was about control. It was about status. I decided to marry her and didn’t give her a choice in the matter. That was when she decided to leave—and I didn’t let her.”
She looked at me again, as if she hadn’t heard me right.
“I didn’t let her,” I repeated, wanting her to understand the horror. “She tried to escape, and I kept her mother’s necklace as leverage. She tried to get it back, and every time she tried, I tried to capture her. So she went to the one place where I couldn’t touch her—Cauldron. We weren’t on great terms, so he took advantage of her situation to torment me. I knew exactly what he was doing and I tried to warn Camille about it, but she realized I was right in the most brutal way possible. At one point, I stole her back and took her to my residence in Tuscany. Almost did something I’m ashamed of, but her voice of reason stopped me. At the end of all this, Camille fell in love with him and got her heart broken. I warned her that I wouldn’t take her back if she chose him—and I’m a man of my word. I won’t be second best, especially to him. I walked into that bar, ready to move on. I met you and haven’t thought about her since.” I paused to watch her reaction, to see if that made her feel better or worse. “Any questions?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “When did she leave?”
“About six months ago.”
“How can you want to marry someone and not love them?”
I gave a sigh. “Maybe I did love her…in my own way. But not in the way where I would ever say it to her.”
Her eyes were on the floor now.
“None of this has to do with us, Elise. Why does it bother you?”
Her eyes were still elsewhere.
“Maybe you were a rebound. But you definitely aren’t now because I would never choose her over you. You’re twice the woman she is.”
Her eyes lifted at that.
“Let’s move on.”
“I-I’m not sure if I can, Grave.”
My eyes shifted back and forth between hers. “I don’t understand.”
“You let her stay here—”
“Would you have preferred me throwing her out on her ass in the middle of winter? I let her stay here for my brother. That’s the honest truth.”
“You said she saved your life.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
I released a loud sigh in annoyance. “I can tell you’ve already made up your mind, so I’m not going to waste any more of my time on this bullshit conversation. Whether I love this woman or I hate her, it should have no bearing on our arrangement. But yet, you constantly let it sabotage it.”
“You could have just told me when I first asked—”
“It’s none of your fucking business!”
She jerked back. This was the first time she’d ever seen me get angry, and she clearly wasn’t prepared for it.
“You’re a goddamn whore. I pay you to fuck me—and that’s it. Period.”
Her palm flew through the air and hit me hard in the face. It wasn’t as much of a slap as an open-palm punch. “Fuck you, Grave.”
11
CAMILLE
I opened the door to Grave on the doorstep. It was raining, so his shoulders were sprinkled with raindrops. His hair was a little damp from his walk from the car to my threshold. His eyes showed his foul mood.
I already knew what this was about. “She wouldn’t stop asking me…”
Grave let himself inside without waiting for an invitation.
“I didn’t tell her all the other stuff, like Italy and the necklace.”
“Doesn’t matter because I told her.” He looked around for somewhere to sit and realized it was just an air mattress on the floor with rumpled sheets and a plastic armchair beside it. “No furniture yet?”
“They said it’ll take a couple weeks.”
He took a look around before he faced me again.
“What did she say?”
He gave a subtle shrug. “Nothing, really. But we’re done.”
“Why?”
“I don’t fucking know. She thinks I’m still into you—even though I’ve told her I’m not. I don’t see what goddamn difference it makes anyway. Whether I still want you or not, who the fuck cares?” He walked around the empty living room, looking out the open windows to the rainfall outside.
He had no clue. “Grave?”
He watched the rain fall for a while longer before he looked at me again.
“You really don’t see it?”
“See what?” He walked toward me, hands in his pockets.
“The reason she cares so much is…because she’s in love with you.”
He gave no reaction whatsoever. “You’re wrong about that.”