Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
I turned in my seat to look behind me, to see the villa completely ablaze as Theo walked back to the house—determined to finish what he started. Bolton would let his men be fed to the wolves, but Theo wouldn’t stop until he was the last wolf standing.
I was taken to Theo’s fortress. His butler escorted me through his grand foyer with the staircase and showed me into the study. The place used to smell like cigar smoke, but now I was the one who reeked of it. He offered me refreshments and food, but I was too sick to want food. I only accepted a water.
I waited and waited.
Sometimes, I paced the room. Sometimes, I stared at the paintings he’d bought from my gallery. Well, my old gallery. Sometimes I looked out the window to the street below like I would see Theo drive home in one of the Hummers.
I didn’t know what would happen now. Would he let me sleep here for the night before I was on my own the next morning? All of my things had been destroyed in the fire, and while that was a nuisance, it was somewhat liberating to have a fresh start. To let the flames burn away any evidence that Bolton had ever touched me. I was cleansed by the heat, rebuilt in the forge of the flames.
It was hours before Theo returned. Nearly sunrise. My body was dead tired from the hour and the terror, but I couldn’t close my eyes until I saw his face.
I heard his voice in the other room as he spoke to his butler. I left the couch and stood, my frantic heart in my throat, my palms sweaty like the fire was in the room.
He walked in, his shirt having been cut away so a bandage could be secured around his shoulder. One side of his face was bruised from being hit in the face with a gun or a fist. His eyes were both angry and tired. But other than those ailments, he looked well.
His eyes found mine as he walked up to me, his expression impossible to decipher. He looked angry but also relieved to see me.
I thought I would fire off with a bunch of questions, but now that I was face-to-face with him, I didn’t have anything to say. It felt like a dream to look at him. I’d thought I would never meet his gaze again, that I would end up dead and Theo would never know. I should thank him. I should hug him. I should do something…but nothing came out.
He spoke first. “I lost a few guys. Your house is gone. Bolton got away. Axel is okay.”
“And what about you?” His well-being was what I cared for most.
His dark eyes held mine. “I’m fine.”
“Good…good.” I thought I would have more to say if this moment ever arrived. Being trapped with my thoughts while he was gone had chased off my courage. “Thank you for saving me.”
He continued to watch me.
“And I’m sorry about your men.” I was sorry for Bolton’s men too, because tonight was not a night when people should have died. It was a stupid cause. They died for a psychopath’s obsession, and no amount of money made that justifiable.
“As am I.”
My arms crossed over my chest as I felt the heat of his stare. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me there. If he was annoyed that I stood in his study. I really didn’t know my place in his life anymore. “Thank you again. I’ll get out of your hair.”
“I said he got away.”
“I know, but I’m not your problem—”
“You think I did all of this just for you to be recaptured?” His temper flared. “That my men died just for you to end up in the same situation?”
“No. But you don’t owe me anything else.”
“You’re staying here.”
“Until you kill him?”
His eyes narrowed. “I didn’t realize that was an option.”
“That’s the only way this is going to end.” It was the only way I’d ever breathe easy. If Theo didn’t want me to stay with him, I’d have to move to another country with a new identity and lay low. “I tried to shoot him myself, but I missed and got him in the arm.” Bolton had taught me how to use a gun but not how to aim it, especially in a split second.
Theo continued to stare at me. “Then it must have been bad.”
He would never know how bad it had been because I would never tell. I would never dig into the details of my imprisonment, how Bolton had destroyed every piece of my heart and soul. His wedding ring was still on my hand, and I wished it’d been burned in that fire. “I wish you’d killed him.”
“I assumed you’d want me to spare him.”