Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61861 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61861 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“I deliver them. You can come as a guest,” Michael says.
“Be a guest in my own business?”
Michael shakes his head at me. “That part of the business isn’t yours, Ryken. You may have created it, but that part is Antonio’s, and you know it.”
I look at the girls on the floor. Most are blonde. Quinn answers my unasked question before I can say another word.
“He likes the blondes,” Quinn says.
I remember. I remember Amy and his other bitches. I remember it all. Is she staying there, though, or is she somewhere else? I know what that nightlife is like when it’s full on. Fights are held for money. Girls are nothing more than whores who are there for only one thing—their pleasure. Men rule that part of the city, and sometimes even Amy has a say if she’s pissed off enough at Antonio. I learned a lot while living there, not just from him and doing all his dirty work, but from everyone I met and the faces I had to punish to the lives I took. I had previously asked around to see if Saskia was there and was told no. So they were lying.
“This blonde, he can’t have.”
All eyes go to behind me.
“A brunette is walking up behind you,” Michael says with a smile on his face. I know it’s Livia before I even turn around. The click of her heels gives her away. As she steps in front of me, her hand touches my shoulder. Livia’s hair is down, and she’s dressed like she just left the office. She’s interning at one of the prestigious law firms while she studies. But why she’s here after I sent her home early this week is beyond me.
“Livia.”
Livia turns back to look at Quinn and Michael. “We need a minute. You two need to leave.”
They look at me for confirmation, and I give them a curt nod. They both turn and walk out of my father’s house. The same one I’ve been staying in since I’ve been back. Her hand drops from my shoulder, and she crosses her arms as she stands in front of me. She’s pissed. That’s all I seem to do lately—make her angry at me.
“Stiles rang me. Imagine my surprise when I received that phone call.”
I should have killed him. Fucker. “And, Livia?” I ask shaking my head while leaning against the wall, waiting for what I know is to come. Livia’s an insanely jealous woman.
She steps forward, her finger pointing into my chest. “You’ve been seeing her... again. Haven’t you? Even knowing I’m carrying your child?” She knows that Barbie’s gone, that she was taken. But what she doesn’t know is the circumstances around it all. And she never asked or even seemed to care. Until now.
“She’s missing, Livia. Your cousin is missing.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “She’ll be back, she has no one.”
Dropping her hand to her side, I shake my head at her. Livia’s stunningly beautiful. There isn’t a doubt in my mind about that.
“You don’t fucking listen, do you?” I say, getting angry. “Admit it! You’re jealous of her!”
Livia’s eyes narrow at me, and her hands clench at her side. “You’re meant to love me, or have you forgotten that, Ryken? It’s me that’s been there, for everything. For your mom, then your father. Not her. So tell me... why do you still even care?”
I don’t tell her that Barbie was there for me more than she could ever have been, but I know better than to piss her off too much.
“I do love you, Livia, that’s the fucking issue, isn’t it? It would be so much easier if I didn’t.”
A tear drops from her eye, and she steps forward, so I have to wrap my arms around her. I do it until I can’t anymore, and let them drop, pushing her back. She reaches for my jeans and tries to undo them. I push her hands away, and she looks up to me, still with a wet face but also now with pleading eyes.
“Show me you love me, Ryken. Even if I don’t have this baby, you’ll love me, right?”
What the hell does that mean? I shake my head at her words.
“I’m going to get her, Livia. I’m going to bring her back. But the baby doesn’t change anything. I’ll protect you until I can’t.”
Her hands drop, and her mouth forms a tight line. “You aren’t, I forbid it. I lost the baby. You need to stay with me.”
My mouth drops open in shock. “Were you even fucking pregnant?”
“No. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be pregnant right now if you were more attentive,” she screams.
The fire inside me has been well and truly lit. I’m explosive with raging anger, and being around her right now has me incensed with a violent rage. I take a long, slow, deep calming breath and simply say, “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.”