Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
He really is the king on the hill looking over his kingdom.
“This place is amazing…” I turn around slowly, taking in the high ceilings and expensive furnishings. In the lounge area is a massive TV sitting above the stone fireplace. The couches are leather and look like they’ll give you a hug the moment you plonk yourself onto them. Not that a lot of plonking goes on here, I’m sure. Nico is too uptight to plonk.
Speaking of which…
“Listen, you’ve made your point.”
He holds up his hand to silence me. “No, you listen. This is how it’s going to play out. You are going to live here with me from now on, and you will obey me—”
“Obey you!”
“And then in two weeks, you will marry me—”
“Two weeks!”
Again, with the silencing hand.
“And you will perform your duty as my wife obediently and diligently.”
My eyes narrow. “What duties?”
He takes a step closer. “I’m a powerful man, Bella. Everyone needs to see the stability of my marriage or else there is no point to it. When people see us together, they’re going to see two people who are in love. No one is to know that this is—”
“Forced? A fucking joke?”
He takes a predatory step closer. Heat radiates off him. Or maybe that’s me burning up because of the way he’s looking at me. His handsome face is tight and oh, so fucking striking. It’s not fair that the monster is as gorgeous and well put together as this because it makes him even more dangerous. His good looks and power draw people in, and they don’t realize what a demon he is until it’s too late, and they’re already snared in his web.
I wonder how many women have fallen prey to his poison, and a strange stab of jealousy sweeps violently through my wildly beating heart.
I don’t doubt there have been many women since me. Did he love any of them? I look into the darkness of his eyes. No, he didn’t. Because the man standing in front of me is incapable of such a thing.
He drags the pad of his thumb across my chin, sending a bolt of lightning zigzagging down my spine.
“Let me remind you what is at stake here.” His low and smooth voice is dipped in fifty-karat gangster. “If you don’t pull this off, then I will take everything your father has built over the last ten years and destroy it. Those restaurants of his—I’ll close them. That house he loves—I’ll burn it to the ground. That shiny reputation he has—I’ll make sure everyone knows who he really is, a Mafia underboss who has blood on his hands. I’ll bankrupt him in every sense of the word if you give me a reason to.
My blood chills in my veins.
He reaches over to push a stray curl behind my ear. “Do you understand me?”
I can only nod, frozen by hate and disgust.
But also by the way he looks at me, and the gentleness in his touch. It’s a stark contrast to the harshness of his words.
And I have to stop myself from leaning into his touch.
He lets his hand fall to his side. “Where is your engagement ring?”
“I pawned it for tickets to London. First class. A girl has to have her standards.”
Unimpressed, he gives me a dark look.
“Fine,” I say, retrieving it from my purse. I slide it on and hold up my hand. “Happy?”
“That doesn’t leave your finger from now on. Got it?”
Again, his eyes flare with warning.
“So many rules,” I mumble, wondering what the hell is wrong with me.
I shouldn’t want his touch.
I should want to run as far away as possible from it.
He turns and walks toward the kitchen.
That’s when I make a break for the elevator. Because I need to get away. To process the havoc he’s wrecking on my life and I can’t do that here. I need my apartment. My art. My things.
The ding of the doors opening alerts Nico to my plan, and he gets to me so freakishly fast, I have to wonder if he’s half wolf.
With a growl, he winds his arm around my waist and pulls me back, spinning me around to face him.
I pummel his chest.
“Let me go, you fucking monster.”
“Stop fucking fighting me,” he barks.
“I’ll never stop fighting you,” I scream as I continue to pound on his muscular chest despite it being fruitless.
Nico is way stronger than me.
Through his suit, I can feel his powerful arm muscles and the rock-hard expanse of his chest.
Strong fingers wrap around my wrists with vise-like strength, and he forces me back until my shoulders hit the wall. He pins my hands above my head and cages me in his arms.
Our faces are close, his breath warm on my cheek.
His strong body holds me against the wall, and it’s muscular and powerful.