Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 61746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
So, this was all or nothing.
“What are we doing here?” Chloe asked as she looked up at me with a confused look on her face.
I breathed in deeply through my nose before looking down at her.
“We’re seeing your father,” I told her.
Chloe’s eyes widened. She probably didn’t have many memories of him at all since I left him early on in her life. That was for the best.
“Really?” she asked.
I nodded and brushed my fingers through her hair.
“We’re saying goodbye to him, okay?” I replied as I crouched down to be eye-level with her.
“Why?” Chloe asked, looking a bit sad.
I sighed, wishing I didn’t have to do this, but she deserved to know some of the truth. I couldn’t hide her from this any longer.
“Because he’s not a nice man, baby,” I said, my throat growing tight. This wasn’t fair. She didn’t deserve this.
Chloe frowned.
“What did he do?” she replied.
I couldn’t get into the details of that. Michael had done so many terrible things to me. Screamed at me. Put his hands on me. Threatened me.
“He’s mean. He doesn’t care about us,” I told her as I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to stop my tears. “That’s why we’re saying goodbye. So that we can be with Marlo, Taj, Marcus, Ti, Bryce, Baker, and Gus, okay?”
Chloe’s eyes brightened at the mention of the guys.
“We can stay with them?” she asked.
I smiled and nodded. All of the details hadn’t been worked out yet, and I still hadn’t told them the extent of my feelings, but I would when this was over. When we were safe.
“Let’s go into the house and grab some more things to bring to the shop, okay?” I said, trying to distract her from the heaviness of that conversation. I was sure that she would have questions later, but it was time to go inside.
Chloe nodded and let me lead her into the house. She peered around like it was a new place, her fingers brushing along the wall as she headed out of the foyer.
I froze in place when I heard a car stop in front of my house, my blood running ice cold. I knew that he would show up soon.
“Chloe, go to your room,” I told her. “Pack up some toys.”
Chloe bounded off to her room where she would be safe, leaving me to turn and face the front door as footsteps sounded on my porch.
I swallowed hard as my heart started pounding, my fear clashing with my determination to end this now. I took a few steps back before the door flew open, and Michael stood in the doorway with narrowed eyes and a smirk on his face. Just his expression made my stomach twist nervously.
“I knew you’d come home eventually,” Michael said as he stepped toward me.
I put my hands up in an innocent manner.
“We need to talk,” I told him, tightening every muscle in my body to try to keep my hands from shaking. It only worked a little bit.
Michael eyed me for a moment.
“Oh, you want to talk now? You’ve been running like a scared little girl for weeks!” he bit out, clenching his jaw in annoyance.
I grounded myself, not moving from the spot as I stood between the living room and the kitchen.
“What exactly do you want from us, Michael? You want to show Chloe off for political points? What are you going to do with me?” I questioned him, not even knowing the full extent of his sick plan. Honestly, part of me didn’t want to know.
Michael scoffed.
“You’ll be a good little housewife. You think I’m going to take care of Chloe outside of bringing her to debates and photo ops? I’ve got better things to do than play house with the two of you,” he replied.
I grinded my teeth as I glared at him, hating every cell in his body for what he wanted to do. He didn’t care about anything but himself, and even prison wasn’t good enough for a monster like him. I wanted him to be scared for his life. To have nothing left.
“After all you’ve done to me. Grabbed me. Hit me. Threatened me. You think I’m going to bend to your every will?” I bit out, anger burning through me like wildfire.
Michael stepped closer to me.
“You will bend. You’ll bend, or you’ll break,” he threatened me.
Despite my fear starting to spark, I stood my ground.
“When did you get this way? When we first got together, I thought you were so different,” I told him. “What changed?”
Michael smirked at me like I asked him a stupid question.
“Everything changed. I saw all the money that could be made. All the power I could have. All I had to do was make some contacts and do a few favors,” he replied.
“Contacts like Deviau?” I questioned him.