Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
She helped me take off my sweater before moving around me to look at the necklaces.
“But they are so charming at first,” she went on, picking up a sparkly diamond necklace Austin had bought me a few months ago for no other reason than he thought I might like it. She draped it around my neck and fixed the clasp. “They compliment you endlessly, fawn all over you, tell you you’re pretty… The manipulation is gradual. First they blame you for something innocuous. Then they start telling you to calm down when you call them on something they did, or they ignore you when they think you’re behaving badly. They pick at you for the very things they once praised you for, right? ‘Why are you wearing so much makeup? Are you trying to entice other men?’ I got that one a lot. Or ‘Why are you so dressed up? You look like a slut.’ He got his hooks into me, bro. In the thick of it, he made me start to question reality. He gaslit the fuck out of me. Excuse my language.”
I stared at her within the mirror in utter bewilderment. It was the most I’d ever heard her say in one go, and she’d just perfectly described the beginning of our courtship and marriage. Totally spot-on. I felt like I’d been slapped.
“I…feel like my confidence is slowly draining away,” I said honestly, suddenly unsure about this dinner. I hadn’t expected to feel like this. I hadn’t, in a million years, expected to start sliding back into my previous headspace as his wife.
“Hey.” She put a hand on my shoulder, connecting with my gaze in the mirror. “I get it. You were with him for twenty years. I was with my ex for less than two. It was hard for me to find my strength after, and my whole world, my entire future is predicated upon being strong. It’s essential in an alpha. He could’ve jeopardized everything. That’s why my dad is so protective of me now. He saw what I’d been reduced to. But listen, you’re not under his thumb anymore. You’ve found your strength, even after all that time. Now you just have to find a way to assert that you’re out from under his control forever.” Her fingers squeezed. “You can do it—you just have to keep your head above the bullshit.”
My bewilderment was back. “You sound way too mature for your age.”
Her smile was dazzling, and I was happy she was relaxed enough around me to show it.
“Honestly, my generation is talking about this stuff a lot more. It sounds like your ex was trying to reduce you to make himself feel more powerful. He tried to control you so he felt in control. Right? Or I am missing the mark?”
“You’re…exactly right.” I took one final glance at the mirror and left the room, Aurora following me, and started downstairs again.
She nodded beside me, her lips pulling to the side. “Yeah. So many men do it, it’s insane. Fragile egos. Women, too. Uncle Auzzie’s ex twisted him all up and made him incredibly dangerous. Different scenario, but same manipulation and abuse. People can be the worst.”
Back in the front room, Ulric, Jasper, and Patty had joined the others in the gathering around the box.
“I don’t think it’ll hurt to open it just a little,” Patty was saying. “She won’t even notice.”
“Mom…what?” Ulric demanded. “How would she not notice—and what would even be the point of opening it a little?”
“Ah. Here she is.” Patty clasped her hands together as I reached the bottom of the stairs. “Oh, Jessie, you look beautiful!”
“Yes,” Mimi said with a nod of approval. “You do. You’re more yourself now.”
“Where is Mr. Tom, by the way?” Cyra asked. “I could use a coffee, and I know that he falls all over himself to get those.”
“He insisted on guarding Jimmy.” I stopped next to the coffee table and looked down at the box. “And considering what’s going on with the mages, it probably isn’t a bad idea. What is this?”
“It’s the delivery,” Hollace said. “A courier dropped it off last night with a note from Sebastian saying that Cyra, Edgar, and I should deliver it to you personally.”
“From Sebastian?” I asked, feeling my heart rate increasing as I bent to the box. “Why didn’t he text me on the encrypted line? Or call me? I’ve been contacting them for weeks and getting zero in return, and now this?” I paused. “We should probably grab Austin.”
“No, no, he’s probably busy—let’s see what it is,” Patty urged, bending over the box with me.
I lifted the lid, pulling the top away.
“It would’ve been just that easy,” Patty murmured. “It could’ve accidentally happened in the car, even.”
Ulric rolled his eyes.
A rectangular envelope lay atop a plastic garment bag. I pulled out a handwritten note.