Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
It feels strange, being back in here. I thought I’d hate it—like I was betraying Kellen. Instead, it’s almost nothing, like it doesn’t matter anymore.
And I think in a lot of ways, what was holding me back before is gone.
The pain is still there, but it’s muted. The self-loathing is still there, but dialed down to a whisper. My world isn’t a screaming nightmare anymore, and I can look at myself in the mirror and smile. A lot of that is thanks to Kellen.
And a lot of it is thanks to forgiving myself.
I don’t know what’s going on with my husband, but there’s something boiling between us. It’s not purely a business arrangement anymore—not exactly anyway. I still want what he promised, but there’s more to me sticking around now. I look forward to seeing him, to kissing him, to feeling his hands on my hips. I want to laugh with him and lie in bed and talk late into the night and feel all those crazy butterfly tingles I never felt when I was younger because I was too numb and too jaded.
I want to be alive with him.
Kellen gets me there, closer than anyone else ever did.
I sit on the edge of the bed. I kick my feet and smile, thinking about my husband, and I look at the ring on my finger.
Gorgeous, glittering ring.
He didn’t have to get it for me, but he wanted to. He doesn’t have to sleep in bed with me. Doesn’t have to treat me like a princess.
But he does, because he wants to.
And in that moment, I realize I’m happy. The feeling is so unfamiliar that it takes a little while to identify it, but I’m happy. I’m not burdened by hate or sadness or addiction or abuse anymore, and while those things will always be with me, they don’t define who I am.
I’m happy. For the first time, I’m suffused with joy, like a dream.
I smile to myself and laugh.
A loud bang yanks me from my daydream. My laughter slowly dies on my lips. Something thuds, and there’s a shout, and another, louder explosion.
I run to the door and fling it open.
Rory stumbles toward me down the hall. Blood gushes from a wound in his chest, dripping between his fingers in heavy spurts. He’s got a gun in his hand, but it falls from limp fingers onto the floor as he collapses face-first, more blood spilling everywhere, thick dark red rivulets of it, arterial blood, thick and heavy.
I scream and stagger away from his corpse, my hands flying to my mouth, as Hugh appears, grinning massively, a gun smoking in one fist.
“Hello, Tara,” he says and steps over the body, leaving footprints etched in blood.
I try to run into the bathroom but Hugh catches me by the hair. I shout in pain as he flings me down to the floor and kicks me once, twice. I groan, coughing, and he drags me to my feet and pulls me back into the main room.
Blood’s splattered all over the kitchen. I’m guessing it’s all Rory’s blood, the poor guy. Rory, dead in the hallway. Cormac’s sitting at the table, frowning and wiping at his suit. Other men stand around—five more in total, all of them armed, all of them looking angrily around like they’re ready to kill a hundred more guards.
But there are none, not all the way out here.
If we were closer to the main building, this place would be swarming already, but we’re not.
I trapped myself.
“They would’ve heard the shots,” I say as Hugh flings me down hard into a chair. “Kellen’s going to come.” Even though I’m not sure that’s true.
“Good,” Hugh says, grinning. “I want him to.” He ties my wrists tightly with a thin cord of rope. I try to wiggle my fingers to keep circulation going but I can already tell they’re going numb. When Hugh’s done, he comes around and slaps me across the face hard enough to make my ears ring.
“Easy now,” Cormac says. “We don’t want to kill her.”
“But we do want to make her scream. What’ll draw Kellen here faster than his new wife in danger?” Hugh leans close to me. “What is it with you and my cousin? I assumed you were in it for money, but that can’t be it. I have plenty of money and you could’ve come to me if you needed some. What did he offer you?”
“Nothing,” I say, glaring, even though my defiance is worthless. Rory’s dead and I’m their prisoner, and they can do whatever they want with me.
Hugh slaps me again. “Come on, Tara, play the game. What’d he give you?”
“Go to hell, you prick.”
He slaps me harder and sighs as he turns to his father. “What now?”
I taste blood in my mouth.
“We wait,” Cormac says, drumming his fingers. “Kellen will be back from hunting us soon. Once he realizes his wife’s not in the main house, he’ll send guys looking. We kill anyone that shows up as quietly as we can, and eventually when Kellen shows, we kill him too. We’re ending this confrontation here and now.”