Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Mindy, submissive to her master at Le Luxe, was friendly to me. None of us knew her master was on the Chabert family payroll, or that he’d infiltrated the privacy and security of Le Luxe.
Lyam nods. And he knows it was Mindy who worked with her master to manipulate me, that the only way to get to Savannah would have to be an inside job. They knew that.
“She must’ve seen the pregnancy test. She definitely saw me vomiting and crying, and even though she asked questions, women sometimes know. They were planning on using me and looking for a threat that would make me cave, and that positive pregnancy test was the ticket.”
He stares in front of me, a look I’m all too familiar with in his eyes. Almost inhuman in intensity, that dangerous, foreboding look warns me he’s on the cusp of going to the dark recesses of his mind that knows no fear. This is the part of him I’m irrevocably drawn to and simultaneously fear.
In a low, deadly voice, he asks, “Did they threaten you and the baby?”
The knowledge that there’s a baby growing inside me as we speak, cells reproducing at enormously fast rates, creating an actual human who will eventually be fully dependent on me, stirs something primal and protective deep within me. I swallow and nod.
I feel nauseous again at the memory of the terrible threat against me. Horrific, vivid, and something one doesn’t get over very easily.
“They told me that if I didn’t cooperate, they would end my pregnancy. And they told me in vivid detail how they would do it.”
Lyam stares at me, unblinking. “So they didn’t threaten to hurt me. I knew that was a lie.”
I nod.
“They threatened to harm you in another way entirely. To completely violate you. But if they’d threatened harm only to you, you wouldn’t have caved. Instead, they threatened the baby, knowing full well you could never allow that to happen.”
I nod. It feels both relieving and awful to tell him the truth now.
I hate that it’s come to this.
“You have some terrible enemies,” I whisper.
“They’re lucky they’re dead,” he replies.
Dead. They’re dead. Mindy and her master, and anyone else who was involved. Lyam saw to that, and his brothers helped.
“The Chaberts disowned the ones who attacked us. They attacked without permission from inside their family. And every one of them is gone now. I saw to that. If I’d known what they actually did to you…”
He doesn’t have to complete the thought. I already know. They would have suffered a painful, slow, and torturous death. I know that. So does he.
“And you didn’t tell me any of this. You allowed us to believe you betrayed us for your own gain.” His brow tightens in anger. “Why?”
Isn’t it obvious?
“Because I’d have to tell you I was pregnant. Your family is dangerous and wealthy, and I didn’t want you to think I was trying to manipulate you. I didn’t know what you’d do, and I didn’t want to make excuses for what I did. But that doesn’t matter.” My throat tightens. “I hate myself for what I did. We weren’t exactly a happy couple, Lyam. We weren’t even a couple.”
Were we ever? We weren’t in a committed relationship.
I made sure of that.
I look away.
And how can I tell him I didn’t know if I wanted to raise a baby with a man like him? Fiercely protective but dangerous.
So damn dangerous.
“Of all the things I’ll never understand,” he mutters, almost to himself. “I most definitely will never understand women.”
When his phone vibrates, he glares at it as if it’s his mortal enemy. Shaking his head, he turns away from me. “I have to take this call. Try to eat some more.”
Swiping his finger on the phone as if he wants to obliterate it from Planet Earth, he takes the call.
The tea’s soothed my belly. My mouth waters from looking at the buttered bread and golden croissants, the fragrant tea laced with milk, still steaming. I take a tentative bite of bread. When my belly agrees this is a good idea, I take another bite and chase it with a sip of hot tea. I close my eyes briefly. Finally, some relief.
I’m not the only concern he has. Obviously, something’s troubling him. The Gerard brothers are always restless, always on guard for the next attack. Is this the life I want for my child?
The door flings open. “Up,” he orders. “Get dressed. We have to move.”
I blink. “What?”
“We can’t stay here.”
“Why?”
Instead of answering he makes a phone call. “Everyone’s dismissed. You know where to go. I’ll be in touch.”
I push out of bed, thankful the nausea’s somewhat abated.
“Where are we going?”
“No more questions. Get ready.”
He gets ready in his own way, which in this case means strapping a holster around his waist and sliding guns and ammunition into the fitted sections as if he’s going to war.