Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97865 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97865 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“Theo, please. I beg of you, leave her be. She’s innocent in this.”
Theo wraps his fist around Charles’ neck and thrusts him up against the wall. I try to pull him back, but Craig puts his hand out to stop me. “You’re delusional if you think I don’t have the same threats and blackmail planned for her as I do for you.”
“She doesn’t deserve—”
“She deserves whatever she gets and then some.” His grip tightens. “I plan on destroying everything. Her livelihood. Her cushy little life. When I’m done with her, she’ll barely have the clothes on her body. I will take everything from her right after I’m done taking everything from you.”
He releases him, and Charles slumps against the wall, his face soddened with tears. Theo turns his back on him and places his hand on my lower back. “We’re done here. Let’s go.” We make our way out of the Hill estate and pass an older woman, her face contorted with fear and despair. Theo disregards her, and we walk out. James is there with the car door open when someone catches my eye. I twist to the right as a man steps out from the garage. It takes a moment to register him, but he’s familiar. But why? How do I—
My body stiffens. Theo puts his hand on my lower back to help me into the car, but my feet are frozen. “Fay. . .” Theo says my name, but my attention is locked on the man lighting a cigarette.
“Who. . . who is that?”
“Who?” Theo follows my line of vision until he stops at the man, now leaning against a car. “Him? That’s Alana’s driver. Why?”
“That’s him.”
“Who?”
“The man who pushed me.”
My mind hadn’t allowed me to remember anything from that day. I guess it was busy trying to heal from being hit by a car. But the second I saw him, though, I knew. I remembered the hardness of the man’s face—his prominent nose and blond hair.
Thank god Craig was with us because if it were only me holding Theo back, he would have killed someone that day. His rage scared me. He was reeling from the betrayal of those who should have cared for him. He allowed Craig to drag him back to the car and do the right thing by giving the information to the police.
Rick Saunders.
Coerced by his lover to wait for me outside Theo’s building and make my death look like an accident. Alana Hill tried to have me killed to seal her future. She’d been secretly sleeping with Rick for years.
There was one thing Alana was truthful about. She was, indeed, pregnant. But it wasn’t Theo’s. Alana offered Rick the promise of a life he couldn’t refuse. She would marry Theo, and in time, Theo would have the same fate as me. It could take years, but they would eventually be together.
Alana was arrested alongside Rick. Her story was completely different than Rick’s, claiming everything under the sun—rape, duress, blackmail. Everyone knew the truth, but it was for a judge to decide. Charles paid her hefty bail so she could remain on house arrest until the trial.
There’s no doubt Alana was obsessed with Theo. She envied him and everything he was. Without him, she had nothing. Alana may have been innocent initially, but greed led her down the same path as her father and Alfred. In the end, it ruined them all.
My thoughts are brought back to the present when Theo lifts my hand, placing a tender kiss on the inside of my wrist. “Let them talk,” he says.
“You think Charles will show up?” I ask when there’s a pause in the line.
“If he’s a smart man, he wouldn’t.”
Another hour goes by. My leg is killing me, and my crutches are digging into my armpits. I lean into Theo and whisper, “I’m going to sneak off to the ladies’ room.”
“Hurry back.”
“I’m sure you’ll survive not looking down my dress for a few minutes.”
He turns, his eyes falling to that spot before meeting mine. “Again, Fredrick’s a dead man.” He leans in, his voice low. “But I do plan on enjoying myself when I shove my cock between those tits and fuck you, painting your pretty little face with my cum.”
Of all places, I’m turned on in a funeral home. Heat spreads across my face, and I shiver. “Well then.” I lick my lower lip, sucking it between my teeth. “How is a girl supposed to make it through the whole day knowing the treat she has in store for her?” Theo’s lips curl into a playful smile. “May have to alleviate some of this ache in the bathroom.”
“I dare you. Touch what’s mine, and you’ll regret it.”
“Oh, I always did like a good challenge.” He reaches for me, but I hop back, smiling, and hobble away, knowing it will cost me later.