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)
I forced myself to swallow, choking on bile. “Her all?”
“Every shred of her immortal and mortal existence. You will become her everything. You will own her so completely that if you commanded her heart to stop…it would.”
I wiped my mouth.
My hand trembled with blackened yearning. “That’s…that’s a heady level of power.”
“It is. It really is. It’s addictive. It’s liberating. It’s the best drug in the world.” Victor suddenly stood and used his napkin to wipe the sheen of sweat off his forehead from the hot morning. “So…shall we get started?”
Every part of me seized as I looked at Ily.
Her hands balled on her bare thighs.
The fire in her sunshine eyes flickered with hate.
Slowly, with grace I didn’t feel and strength I didn’t have, I stood and fisted the leash. “What ownership should I—”
“So sorry to interrupt.” A black-suited butler bowed at Victor, wincing a little at cutting me off. “Apologies, Sir V, Master H.”
Victor’s forehead furrowed. “What? What is it?”
“An unexpected arrival, Sir,” the butler said, keeping his eyes down. “The gatehouse just called. Mr. Howel and Mr. Sahn are driving up. They requested you meet them in the lobby in five minutes.”
Victor tensed and looked at his watch. “I really need to get a longer driveway. Three kilometres is not enough, especially when it’s a rude interruption like an unwanted visit.”
Jesus, how big is his estate?
“Shall I say you are detained, Sir?” The butler didn’t look up, his hands folded neatly in front of him.
“No, no.” Victor sighed. “I’ll deal with them.”
“As you command, Sir.” With a sharp bow, the middle-aged butler with his slightly receding brown hairline spun and marched primly back toward the castle.
I fought the urge to follow him.
To run from this place before I signed my own death warrant.
But all it took was one look at Ily still kneeling on the patio with a single piece of leather linking us together, and I made an unbreakable promise.
We’d arrived together.
We’d leave together.
That was my vow.
An absolute blood-soaked oath that if I couldn’t get her out of this, then I wouldn’t be going anywhere either.
“I guess the lesson will have to wait for another time,” I said softly, doing my best to sound disappointed. “Damn.”
Victor nodded with a scowl. “Unfortunately, yes. Politicians. They make the lives of everyone around them an utter misery.”
“You have politicians stay?” I raised an eyebrow. “Do they partake like the rest of your guests?”
Victor patted Ily on the head. “Of course they partake. They have high-powered jobs. Everyone needs a hobby to unwind.”
Ily jerked away from his condescending petting.
She didn’t speak, but her act of defiance had Victor’s eyebrows pinching together. “This time tomorrow, we shall see if you’re still willing to be so disrespectful, sweetling.”
Dismissing her as if she was gum on the bottom of his polished shoe, he looked at me. “Tell me, Henri. Do you have other hobbies besides denying who you truly are?”
My fingers tightened around the leash. “I wasn’t aware I needed others.”
“Come now…what do you do to relax? Supposing you’re alone where no one can see you?”
I flinched.
I shot a look at Ily.
Her piercing eyes met mine.
She watched me as if whatever I said next would paint me in the same tar I’d already rolled around in.
Despite what I’d confessed, my biggest secret and hardest heartache was…
I’m alone.
That was it.
Just horribly, terribly alone.
Unwanted.
Pathetic.
Before I could censor myself, I admitted, “I read.”
Ily’s soft intake of breath kicked me in the chest.
Victor sniffed. “Read? That’s it? No other skeletons? No murderous tendencies or illegal activities?” He rolled his eyes. “Christ, even the politicians currently driving through my grounds have better answers than that.”
Forcing myself to look away from Ily, I braced my shoulders and gave another confession. Funny how this one glued itself to my tongue, unwilling to be shared. “Apart from my…eh, need to break another. I have no other nasty habits. That one is enough. It eats me alive night and day. It’s constantly there, whispering in the back of my mind, waiting for me to snap, so…I do the only thing I can. I find the only outlet available to me.” I shrugged. “I live in a world where I can’t have what I want. Therefore, I find it in fiction. It’s amazing how dark stories can be. How horror has no limits and history makes my fantasies mere child’s play. I read all kinds of books. I live vicariously in their pages. And I remind myself that just because villains are celebrated in tales doesn’t mean they are in reality, and I can never slip up because if I did, I’d—”
My teeth snapped together, biting off the final part of that sentence.
“You’d go to jail? Be killed? What?” Victor asked with a glint of curiosity.
Ily never looked away as I shrugged again, pretending the answer meant nothing. “I would’ve shown my mother that her son was a total stranger. A stranger she should’ve been afraid of.”