Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“I know,” Shay sighs. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they would have called his parents by now and Daniella would be down there trying to sort this out.”
“Oh, no need to worry about that. I got him out. A kid got the whole thing recorded and I threatened the cops that if they didn’t let him go, I’d press charges and go to the press about their officer assaulting a minor. That seemed to do the trick.”
Shay puts her hands at her temples as Ben shakes his head, taking long calming breaths. “Okay, on second thought,” Shay says. “I might just head down to the police station by myself. Maybe you should avoid that place for a little while.”
“Yeah, that’s not such a bad idea.”
The conversation is cut off when Blake comes striding into the kitchen and looks down at me. The second his eyes meet mine, his betrayal comes flying to the front of my mind and nearly cripples me. I love this kid with everything I’ve got but the memory of him announcing to the world that I was raped stings too much to forget.
In his defense, he was blind drunk and could hardly stand straight. He saw Slade Cruz staring down at me and instantly thought the worst, especially with how he’d been going out of his way to make my life a living hell. But when he saw the tears brimming in my eyes, Blake snapped. He told the world exactly why Slade should back off and just like that, my world crumbled.
It was only two nights ago and his betrayal stings.
“You hate me, don’t you?” he murmurs, dropping down at the dining table beside me as Shay and Ben watch us suspiciously from the kitchen counter.
“Don’t,” I warn him. “I’m not ready to talk about this. Not here, not now.”
“I fucked up.”
“You sure as hell did.”
Blake lets out a strained groan, hating himself for betraying me to the world. “I’m sorry,” he starts when a knock at the door has me flying out of my seat.
I hurry out of the kitchen faster than lightning, desperate to avoid this shit. I tear the front door open and find none other than Slade Cruz standing before me, his eyes blazing with fury as he stares down at me.
Well, shit.
Chapter 2
Guilt pours through me as I stare at the man whose bed I just snuck out of. My morning didn’t exactly go as planned. Discovering Slade's mom was Daniella Pierce, the woman who was raped years ago by the same man I was defiled by was one thing, but also learning that Maria Valentine knew my mom all along and hated her has left me with way too many questions.
I thought that was all I was going to get out of speaking with Daniella but then she had to go and drop the biggest bomb yet; Slade is Lucien’s son. He got Daniella pregnant when he raped her and now, he knows. At least, she thinks he knows. Though one thing is for sure, Slade certainly doesn’t.
How am I supposed to face him now knowing this? I can’t lie to him about something so important but it isn’t my place. Daniella needs to find the strength to come clean about the rape to her family and be the one to talk to Slade. All I know is that she needs to do it fast because secrets like this have a way of coming out at the worst possible times.
Learning that Lucien is his father would absolutely kill Slade. I know I haven’t known him long, but I like to think that I know him enough. He would hate finding out that he shares the same DNA as a man like that. He’d question himself, question who he is, his morals, his goodness. Everything about him would become a lie and I’d hate to see him go through that because no matter what anyone says, no matter what I’ve said, Slade is good people. He has the ability to be absolutely brutal yet despite that, he has a kind heart.
Slade raises a pissed off brow and despite not even taking a single step, he seems to loom over me. “What the hell did you think you were doing sneaking out of my bed first thing this morning?”
I gape at Slade as he stands, glaring in my doorway. Damn him, why does he have to look like that first thing in the morning? He’s so tall that I have to crane my neck to see his dark, blazing eyes. His hair is perfectly ruffled from sleep which I don’t really understand as his hair is so shortly cropped that I could hardly grab hold of it last night. But it’s the way he looms over me with that cocky stance that drips with confidence that has my breath catching and the butterflies swarming in my stomach.