Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
But I wouldn’t let him see it. Wouldn’t let him wield his manipulation.
So, I flicked the lock and lifted my chin as I stepped out into the descending night and prayed to God my knees would hold.
Darkness rained down and the air felt cold, as if it’d dropped by fifty degrees.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” I gritted my teeth to keep the words from shaking.
Pruitt shifted around, and a shockwave of that cold gusted. A squall that battered against my body.
Pruitt was tall and lean, and I’d once thought he had to be one of the most attractive men I’d ever seen. Brown hair and green eyes. Clean cut and high bred. I’d just failed to notice the wickedness that soaked him through.
Bitterness filled his voice. “I thought I should pay a visit to my wife.”
“I’m not your wife.” I spat it.
He laughed a condescending sound. “You promised your life to me. Don’t you remember?”
“And you turned out to be a man I didn’t know.” I wouldn’t back down or cower. Wouldn’t pretend.
I just tossed the truth out between us, the words toppling to the wood planks like jagged, pitted stones.
There was no missing the threat that was etched into them.
“You think you know me, do you?” His head cocked to the side.
His own warning.
Ice slicked down my spine, and I forced myself to remain upright, to keep from slumping in the fear that wanted to overtake. The vision of the depravity I knew he was capable of flashed through my mind.
My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides. “I know exactly who you are, and the rest of the world is going to, too, if you don’t get off my property.”
Cruelty spilled out with his laughter, and he was across the porch before I could prepare myself, no defense before he had my back plastered to the wall and his hands planted on either side of my head.
Foulness spilled from his spirit and dripped from his mouth as he whispered his venom close to my ear. “Do you think to threaten me, Hailey? Do you think I’m afraid of you? Do you realize how easily you could cease to exist?”
“What do you want from me?” My eyes squeezed shut, and there was no stopping the trembles that rattled my voice.
Agony blazed a path through my insides and ripped at my spirit.
The only thing I wanted was to be free. To raise my daughter right. To turn my back on everything that he was. It was bad enough that I was allowing him to get away with what I knew.
But for my daughter…
“You know what I want.” The words dropped lower, gnarled and dark.
“I’m giving you two seconds to step away from her before you don’t have the ability to.”
We both froze at the low growl of words that curled through the air, coming from the direction of the steps. They were almost the exact same words as Cody had issued last night at the bar.
Though they were delivered even more menacing than last night.
Shards.
Broken glass.
A knife that was clearly ready to impale.
Only Cody didn’t know the type of man we were dealing with. Pruitt wasn’t some drunk guy who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut or his hands to himself.
Pruitt was calculating.
Devious.
Precise.
I didn’t know why he hadn’t come for me sooner. I should have known that he would. Should have known he would never let me be.
Should have known I’d never truly be free.
Pruitt slowly shifted to look over his shoulder, though he didn’t move an inch from where he held me hostage against the wall.
“You’d do well to turn your back and walk away, hick,” Pruitt hissed, like Cody was trash.
Inconsequential.
A bluster of energy blew through the air, coming from every direction. Colliding in the middle.
An aggression so intense I gagged on it.
A clash of Pruitt and Cody.
Neither of them were going to back down.
“It’s fine, Cody. Go back to your house.” Each word croaked.
“You should know that’s not going to happen, darlin’.” He softened his tone for me.
His words from last night flooded my thoughts.
“I won’t regret standing up for you. It’s just the way I am, Hailey. I protect those I care about. Take care of them. Whatever the cost.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is if you knew the lengths I’d go.”
I had a hunch he would go far right then. Dive right into brutality.
But I couldn’t ask him to stand in the line of fire for me. Get involved in something he didn’t understand.
Pruitt would destroy Cody and take pleasure in it when he did.
“I’m fine.” I somehow managed to force it out, though I knew it was rasping.
Cody took another step up the porch stairs. Slowly, though there was nothing hesitant about it. “Yeah, you don’t seem so fine to me, so I think I’m going to have to stick around.”