Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Another hour and I was ready to ask the now sleeping woman if she had a deck of cards or checkers or some-fuckin’-thing—anything, to help pass the time.
That was when the garage door opened and heavy footfalls approached. “Asya?” Before he entered, she stirred, blinking through sleep. He called out, “The fucking servers are offline again.” He sounded frustrated. “I swear to God, tatlım. I’ve had it with this monitoring bullshit. It’s like I’m paying them to dick me arou—”
When he stepped into the family room, his eyes settled on me sitting by his wife, and when he saw the groggy state of her, he lunged. “You prick.” He rushed forward, and Happy and Julius stood, pointing their weapons at him. Panting, Aslan had the good sense to put his hands up and take a step back. He looked at me, his nostrils flaring in anger. He spoke through gritted teeth, “She’s ill.”
I used the barrel of my gun to scratch my temple. “I can see that.” I looked back at Asya, who was now looking at her husband with wide, apologetic eyes, and I turned back to him. “I’ve been a perfect gentleman, haven’t I, Asya?”
The vein in Aslan’s temple bulged as his face screwed up and he threw a pointed finger at me. He hissed out, “You don’t speak her name!”
He clearly loved this woman. What the fuck was he doing with Ling?
I chanced a look at the woman.
The only thing that made sense was that he wasn’t getting sex at home.
My lips thinned.
Bad choices led to bad circumstances, and he was stuck now. I hoped Ling was worth it.
“I’m fine,” said the woman beside me. “He hasn’t done anything, aşkım.” She blinked at me, swallowing hard. “Not yet.”
Relief washed over Aslan and he tried to calm himself. He looked between the three of us vigilantly, taking in his position, his surroundings. His impending doom. “Why are you here?”
“You know why, Sadik.” My tone low, I uttered, “I’m here about a woman.”
Aslan looked confused.
“A woman who up until a couple weeks ago thought I was dead.”
The fucking Turk started to catch on.
“A deadly viper,” I explained. “A Dragon who came to my home in the middle of the night, made a threatening gesture to my woman, and put a target on her pretty little head.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he uttered, but his narrowed eyes spoke volumes.
He was willing to talk, but not in front of his wife.
Well, fuck him.
I never did play by the rules. Had he forgotten who I was?
The throne belonged to someone else, but we all knew if I wanted it back, all I had to do was claim it as mine.
“Sure you do,” muttered Julius. “You’ve spent almost every night in her city apartment till the early hours of the morning.” He looked to Asya. “What? You didn’t know your husband was fucking The Dragon Queen?” When Asya’s already pale face turned porcelain and she looked to her husband in question, Julius tossed her his phone. “Got some nice photos there for ya, princess.” He turned back to Aslan. “Oh, I’m sorry. Was that ‘need to know’ bullshit?”
Asya scrolled through the photos and her panting increased. When the phone fell from her hands to the hardwood floor with a bang, she sounded as if she were choking, and when she lifted her trembling hands to her mouth, shaking her head softly, she settled her teary eyes on her husband, now knowing the level of his betrayal.
Aslan swallowed hard. “It’s not what it looks like,” he told her, but it sounded weak to everyone in the room.
“I’m gonna tell you this once, Sadik,” I said before I offered my advice. “There is something wrong with that woman. Ling is a plague on this world. She will ruin your life in every way possible, and when you don’t give her what she wants—” I looked to Asya but spoke to her husband. “—she’ll start fucking with the things you love.” I faced him and watched his face fall. “It’s not her fault; she just doesn’t know any better.” I warned him, “You can’t fix her. What’s broken inside of her, it can’t be repaired.”
Aslan looked to his wife, wearing a sadness I’d never seen the normally confident man wear. “It wasn’t planned,” he told her, his rough voice wavering. “I’m so sorry, sultanım.”
I could see it was starting to sink in, but I needed them to know what my position was on the fucking Turk’s relationship with The Dragon Queen.
Turning to the woman beside me, I held out my hand, and she reluctantly placed her shaking fingers into my expended palm. I spoke to her directly; fuck her husband. “I have a confession to make. I didn’t come here to hurt you, but—” As she blinked, her lashes dampened. “—I can see that’s what I’ve done here, so, I’m sorry.” I patted her cold hand and licked my lips. “Your husband has a choice to make, and I hope he makes the right one, because—” I peered into her eyes needing her to see just how serious I was. “—if I come back here and you catch me again,” I uttered somberly, “I’mma be the last thing you ever see, princess.”