Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
“Wait.” Henri held up his hand, stilling Victor’s speech. “You read my manuscript? How?”
Victor ducked his chin, guilt tinging his cheekbones. “Ah, yes, I know I shouldn’t have, but…I have a big nose too.” He tapped it with a laugh. “I told you I was eager to read your book, so I was disappointed to find only blank pages.”
“Ever heard of asking first?” Henri sniffed.
“Does it look like I ask for consent?” He chuckled. “Besides, if I’d asked you, you might’ve said no—”
“I would’ve definitely said no. It was personal.”
“Is that why you deleted it?”
Henri’s eyes tightened. “Amongst other reasons.”
“What reasons?”
Rachel and I looked between the two men as if we were watching a tennis match. The rising testosterone, the tension.
I didn’t think Henri would answer him, but he strangled, “I’ve been remembering my childhood. It turns out I repressed everything. Writing unfortunately unlocked that repression.”
“Interesting.” Victor topped up both their glasses. Glancing at my untouched one, he commanded. “Drink that, Ilyana. I won’t ask again.”
Henri glanced at me; he gave me the slightest nod.
With gritted teeth, I grabbed the glass, shot it back, and grimaced.
Vodka.
Victor refilled it, then turned his attention back to Henri on the couch. “So…what have you been remembering? Tell me. I wonder if our childhoods were the same, and that’s why we’re so similar.”
My nose wrinkled.
Henri might want dark things, but he was nothing like Victor. I couldn’t picture him hacking up a body to sell the heart or a kidney of someone he used to know—
Then again, he’d filleted Kyle pretty good.
He stabbed him so many times I’d lost count.
Different…
That was different.
Is it?
Murder was murder.
A life was a life.
“I seem to have been one of my father’s favourites,” Henri finally muttered. “He made me…help.”
“Ah! That explains your needs, then. I can imagine—from what I heard about him and his harem—that my island must feel familiar. A coming home of sorts.”
“You could say that.” Henri flicked me an unreadable glance.
Victor clapped his hands, making me jump. “I want to hear all about your memories, mon ami. Not because I wish to upset you by dragging up a childhood you refused to recall but because it has become my own personal task to make you happy. I will teach you how to shed the parts of yourself holding you back. I will give you the same joy you touched the night you finished Ruby Tears. That freedom can be yours again. You only need to reach out and claim it.”
Henri didn’t say anything as Victor stood and stretched, his satin pyjama pants revealing every part of him.
He was hard.
And not wearing any underwear, judging by the grotesque outline.
“But right now, I’m hungry for a different sort of delicacy.” Bending over Rachel, he cupped her cheek. “I’m going to be rather possessive of you now I’ve accepted the gift you’re giving me. For the next year, you will serve no one but me. However…” His navy eyes flickered to Henri. “There is a matter of a small debt, and I don’t like IOU’s hanging over me. So…for tonight only, I will share.”
Every bone in my body locked.
Rachel sucked in a breath. “Sir V?”
Pressing a soft, chaste kiss to her mouth, Victor stood and crossed his arms. “Master H won you in Emerald Bruises. You wear his fading marks even now. Please allow him to claim his prize and make him as happy as you make me.”
Rachel shot me a horrified look but bowed her chin and nodded. “Yes, Sir V. Forgive me, Sir V, but…are you asking me to present to Master H?”
Victor nodded with a chill. “I am. Allow my friend to fuck you. Accept a part of his darkness so he can breathe a little easier. And if you please him, I’ll order your favourite caramel crème cheesecake and draw you a bath so you can soak away his cum before those swimmers get anywhere near my baby.”
My heart literally splashed onto the dirty stain on the carpet.
Raw, stinging tears cut my eyes.
I loved Rachel as much as I loved Peter.
She was my friend.
She was a prisoner.
But the thought of her sleeping with Henri?
She…she can’t.
He’s mine.
He’s…
My lungs stuck together.
A panic attack hotter and darker than the one that’d smothered me in the library that first day threatened to make me hyperventilate.
Henri.
Henri with Rachel.
Rachel with Henri.
Henri inside Rachel.
Henri…
It took forever and a million broken hearts before Henri slowly raised his chin and swallowed hard.
His eyes sought mine.
Torment carved deep crags in his face.
With a quiet shift, he planted a hand on my quaking shoulder. “It’s fine, Vic. I relinquish my right of winning. She’s the mother of your heir and—”
“You will, and I’ll tell you why.” Victor clasped his fingers in front of his red silk robe. “You’re boxing yourself into yet another black hole. This one might be different to the black hole you existed in out there in society, but in here, you’ve found a way to imprison yourself all over again. It seems as if you haven’t touched Ilyana in weeks. You have urges. You have needs. By ignoring those needs, you compound your suffering, and I’m sick of it. Do you hear me? You’re doing exactly what you did to your childhood and repressing yourself all over again. I won’t let you mope around my home. I won’t let you fade away all because you’re too afraid to be free. So…”