Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Goodbye, Ford.” She turns and walks to the door, and I reach for her thinking if I could just explain, I could make her understand that it might’ve started out one way, but it’s something else completely now, that I’m ready to give up everything for her because this is real, this is real.
But she steps back quickly and she looks like she wants to scream. “Don’t you touch me,” she says harshly. “Don’t you ever touch me again. I’m leaving, Ford, and I don’t ever want to hear from you again. God, I gave so much to you, and it’s always the same. I’m always fucking humiliated in the end.”
“Kat, don’t walk away.”
But she’s already gone. Already going down the hall. Already heading down the stairs. I follow her but she disappears onto the elevator and the last thing I see are the tears falling down her face again and the pure, incredible, gut-ripping pain etched all over her face.
I stand there and stare at my hands, trying to understand what just happened. Numb, depleted, drained, and emotionally wrecked.
I lost everything.
My one chance at being something more than a heartless monster like my grandfather. My one opportunity to be a man, a man worthy of a woman like Katherine.
All gone.
“Ah, boy, I know you’re upset, but she’s just a girl,” Grandpop says and slaps my shoulder. I barely feel it. “Whoops, almost forgot my wallet.” He laughs as he plucks it from the counter then walks past me to the elevator. “Cheer up, Ford. I suppose it’s not all bad. Riley’s going to be heir—”
I take two steps to my grandfather and my hands ball into fists. “Get out.”
His eyebrows raise. “You look like you want to hit me.”
“Get the fuck out, old man.” I’m snarling now, lost in rage. I want to kill him. I want to watch him die on my floor right now. But that won’t bring Kat back.
He took everything from me. He took my childhood, my dignity, my world, and now he’s taking Katherine.
She was the only decent thing I’ve ever had and he managed to fuck it up.
I managed to fuck it up too, by not telling her, by letting myself get used by this sick old man.
That thought is the only thing keeping me from breaking my grandfather’s jaw.
I did this too.
“You really liked her, didn’t you? Stupid boy.” He shakes his head and hits the call button. “I had such high hopes really, such high hopes, and look at you now.”
“If I see you again, I’ll kill you. Do you hear me? I’m through with the Arc family.”
“Don’t you worry about that. I won’t even be petty and try to take away your trust. You know, all the money I made for you.” He sneers as the elevator doors open and he steps inside. “Good luck, Ford. I suppose you’ll need it now that you’re all alone.”
The doors close, and he’s right.
I’m all alone.
I drop to my knees and put my forehead on the floor and stay like that for a long time, thinking about Katherine and how I have nothing left, nothing at all.
Chapter 24
Kat
Iclutch my glass of wine like it’s the only thing keeping me from drowning.
Because it really might be.
Tina looks at me like she’s afraid I’m about to walk out into traffic. I know I’ve been a pretty pathetic sight these last few days, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to forget about what happened back at the apartment. I’ve been staying with her ever since I ran out on Ford because I can’t bring myself to go back to the Stockton mansion and I have nowhere else to go. I feel like someone dipped me in acid and tried to melt off my skin. Tina’s a good person, even if she hides it under her rough no-bullshit exterior, and I appreciate her so much for letting me sleep on her couch and mope in her living room.
I’m not the easiest person to be around right now.
“We could always burn his house down, you know,” Tina says thoughtfully as she kicks her feet up on the coffee table.
“That wouldn’t work. He lives in an apartment.”
“Good point. Too much collateral damage.” She touches a finger to her lip. “Maybe we could burn down his family’s house. Don’t they have one of those fancy mansions?”
“It’s too big and they have too much security. They’d never let it burn.”
“Old-fashioned murder?”
I laugh a little and shake my head. “I appreciate the offer but I just want to forget him. If I could take a scrub-brush to my brain right now, I’d do it. Ever see that movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? It’s all about a guy and a girl going through some special memory-erasing procedure meant to erase each other from their brains. I wish I could do that to Ford right about now.”