Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Take the dogs back,” Mercedes tells him without taking her eyes off me. “I’ll stay with him.”
Paolo looks unconvinced especially when his eyes dip to the bottle. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She turns to Paolo. “I’m fine. Go.”
“No, he’s right, Mercedes. You need to go,” I say.
She makes a point of sweeping her gaze over the room. “I don’t think so. Unless you’re coming with me.”
“Paolo,” I say.
Paolo takes her arm but she shrugs it off. She turns to him. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
Paolo looks between us.
“I’ll be fine,” she repeats.
He gives me one last glance then nods, and leaves with the dogs. Mercedes closes the door. She goes to the CD player and turns the music off. The sudden silence is heavy, like a solid thing.
I watch as she strips off my coat and drops it on the leather chair. Grandfather would have had a fit.
She comes right up to me and takes the bottle from my hand. Never taking her eyes from me she drinks a long swallow.
“You should have gone with Paolo.”
“Why? Because you’re drunk?”
I reclaim the bottle and drink, then set it aside. “Go to the house. Now.”
She cocks her head to the side and steps closer. “No.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that. Don’t know me.”
“Then show me. Show me just how big and bad you are, Lawson Montgomery.”
11
Mercedes
Judge stares down at me, eyes alight with torment. There’s a war inside his head, and right now, I don’t know which side is winning.
“Why would you come back here?” he demands.
I study the lines of his face, and I realize there’s always been something tormented in him. He hides it well, but it’s there, beneath the surface. Beneath the tension that creeps in around his eyes whenever someone tries to get too close, just as I’m doing now.
“I learned a long time ago not to let the places where bad things happen have power over me.” I reach out to smooth the shirt collar around his neck. “If I did, I’d never be able to go anywhere, and that includes half of your property since I’ve been in your care.”
He flinches at the observation, but there’s no point in sugar-coating it. We both know the truth.
“It’s the world we live in.” I lean into him, feeling the warmth of his chest as it presses against my body. “There’s no point denying it. This is our normal.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” He shakes his head, a dark expression taking over him. “Not for you, Mercedes.”
“Why?” I trail my fingers up the length of his neck, stroking his jaw. “Because you’re going to give me away? You think I’ll be better off with someone else?”
His jaw clenches, and he tries to brush my hand away, but I resist and then he captures it between us.
“Yes,” he grits out. “It’s something you will come to understand in time.”
His determination stings, but that’s nothing new.
“And what happens when my husband turns out to be a monster too?” I trap him with my eyes. “When he decides I need to be beaten and whipped for my own good, will you still think I’m better off then?”
“I would never let that happen,” he snarls.
“But you’d have no choice.” I give him a pained smile. “It’s a man’s business what he does at home with his wife. At least in our world. You wouldn’t be able to rescue me, Judge. Not anymore. I’ve always known it would be up to me to rescue myself.”
“Mercedes.” His words are thick with restraint. “I know what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?” I ask innocently as I yank my hand from his and resume my exploration of his skin.
“You’re goading me.”
“Am I?” I cock my head to the side. “I don’t see it that way. I’m telling you a truth. You want to give me away, and—”
“I can’t fucking marry you!” he roars.
The ferocity in his tone makes me freeze, and when I recover from the flinch and dare a glance up at him, I know this is the beast inside him coming out to play.
“I know you won’t.” I force the words up my raw throat. “You said you’d never marry at all. Tell me why, and then we’ll never discuss it again.”
He drags himself away from me, taking another long pull from his scotch. I haven’t ever seen Judge drink this much, and admittedly, it’s a little disturbing. But I know this might be the only time I get my answers from him.
“Because Theron was right.” His eyes are inky pools of black when he turns his gaze back on me. “You don’t understand the things I’m capable of. The darkness that lived in my grandfather lives in me too. I can only keep it caged for so long before it’s inevitable I end up hurting someone.”