Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“Open the door. Right now.”
“No.” He smiled. “And be careful how you talk to me, girl. You do not want to see me angry.”
“Angry?” I bared my teeth. “I’m the one who’s angry. You have no right. No right to hold me against my will. Let me the hell out.”
“Careful.” He clucked his tongue. “Don’t make me punish you so soon.”
“Punish?” I choked and stumbled against the door. “No one is punishing anyone. Open it. Or I’ll…I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” He smiled as if I was a new pet whose only purpose was to entertain him. “You’ll scream?”
I stiffened as he chuckled.
He laughed as if my fear delighted him, his smile never dropping. A heartless smile that made everything inside me shrivel up with fear.
Gliding toward me in his expensive, glossy shoes, he said, “You are new and therefore unaware of what’s expected of you, so I will be lenient…for now.” He kept stalking closer, slowly, methodically. “But I do expect you to be smart about this. You’re mine now. Henri has bought and paid for you on my bequest. You can scream, shout, fight, and cry, but the only things those dramatics will get you is the back of my hand and the promise that when we return to my estate, I will not spare you.”
Stopping before me, trapping me against the door, he reached out and caressed my cheek.
Every cell within me, every molecule, every droplet of blood and unshed tear turned to stone. I leaned toward him, hissing with a thousand snakes on my tongue. “Don’t you dare fucking touch me.”
I slapped his hand away.
I went to scream.
Pain.
It bloomed over my cheek and exploded in my temple.
One moment, I stood in my second-hand dainty boots; the next, I kneeled on the blood-red carpet, my ears ringing, my mouth full of coppery tang from my teeth catching my lip.
“Henri, don’t—” the other guy snapped just before Henri towered over me, his broad shoulders almost touching the man who’d slapped me.
“I thought you said you liked your jewels to sparkle.” He crossed his arms, his eyes unreadable as he looked at me on the floor. “Not bleed.”
The room spun a little. I struggled to swallow past a gush of nausea.
“I don’t mind the colour of bruises, if that’s what they require,” the older man replied as he picked up my phone from the floor and placed it into his pocket. Raking his hand through his greying blond hair, he toed me on the ground. “You might have spied one of the more beautiful jewels at the club tonight, Ward, but I fear she will not be easy to train.”
Shaking my head from agonising wooziness, I looked up at the two men. Their long legs and overbearing shadows made dread crush me into the carpet.
Who were these bastards?
What the hell did they want?
And how did I fall so spectacularly for it?
Betrayal lodged like a knife in my chest as I looked at Henri. “How could you do this to me?”
Our eyes locked, and every shred of awareness and intrigue I felt toward him turned to ash.
How could I be so stupid?
How could I believe something existed between us when the only thing inside him was darkness—a fetid, rancid darkness stalking beneath his immaculate skin.
How did I not see it?
See the missing parts, the rotten parts?
The parts that reached out to the animalistic part of me and howled at me to run.
He showed no remorse, no regret. He shrugged as if my life was utterly inconsequential. “You’re the price I had to pay. And…I paid it.”
I sucked in a harsh breath.
I wanted to eradicate any taste from his kiss and erase that fleeting moment when he made me feel something.
That tightening in my belly.
That ridiculous, foolish flutter in my heart.
Bending over me, he cupped my chin with fingers that had the audacity to shoot fire into my veins even now. Sickening fire. Decimating fire. Fire from the devil himself.
“You’re the sacrifice I needed to make to be free.” His lips twisted with a thousand secrets. “I’m sorry. I truly am. But…it’s done now and there’s no going back. For either of us.”
Ripping my face from his hold, I pressed against the door. “I hate you.”
“I know.” He let me go and squeezed his nape. “And, unfortunately, I’ll give you plenty more reasons to hate me before I’m through.”
The older man chuckled and patted Henri on the shoulder. “I’m beginning to like you, Ward, and that’s not an easy thing to accomplish.” Throwing a glance at the man who’d remained by the bar, he nodded. “Okay, Roland. I accept your suggestion to see if Henri will fit within our circle.”
Henri stiffened. He tried to smile but it came out more like a grimace. “Is that an invitation?”
“Not quite.” The older man frowned. “Call it…a deliberation.” Pointing at me on the floor, he muttered, “You bought her for me. She’s mine to use as I please. Within my Jewelry Box, I encourage my friends to indulge in whichever jewel entices them. Because you’ve impressed me tonight, you can have first taste.”