Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
“You don’t want a bunch of gory details but you know my pop was a partner at Kruna so you can imagine the kind of man he was. Let’s just say he was dark. He was power-hungry and did not hesitate to snuff enemies out. He didn’t care if you were blood, if you were one of his children even. If he saw you as anything but loyal you were dead to him. My sisters don’t know a whole lot about the details and they, Tia, and you don’t need them but know that our family is on the road to change. I’m in the middle of selling off most of the family business piece by piece to get us out of being so closely tied in with organized crime, racketeering, you get the picture.”
I nodded.
“Okay, here’s where you’re gonna be a bit shaken up, I think.”
I braced. He put a hand on my cheek and didn’t let go. I leaned into his palm.
“I found out when I came to Kruna for you that Lisa, Pop’s widow, was a Kruna slave. I never knew. Pop didn’t tell us.” He stroked my cheekbone with his thumb, staring right into my eyes.
I blinked. Then I gasped as it sunk in. Monalisa. I said it out loud. “Monalisa?”
He nodded solemnly and rubbed my back with his other hand.
“I asked her to come over tomorrow. I thought you two could…you know, talk.”
I was dumbstruck. Monalisa was like a celebrity to me.
“All this, does it make you wish you never met me?”
My eyes darted from the floor to his face. “Oh god, no. No way.” I wrapped my arms tight around his neck and put my head on his chest. He leaned back and spun so he was lying on the couch and I was on top of him. I curled up on top, my cheek to his chest, and I closed my eyes and listened to his heart beating.
I didn’t know how to feel. If he kept me, I’d have someone nearby who knew what my life was like. Would that help me heal? Or would Monalisa and I just remind one another of who we really were, how dirty and tainted we were? She’d probably know some of what I’d been through in being broken. I’d know that she’d been through at least some of those same things.
I thought back to that day I met her, the way she stared at my throat, the way she didn’t smile. Now it made sense. I’d heard about her. I’d heard a lot about her. I modeled my A to B in the hopes of becoming like the girl that was my predecessor. I was told she was beautiful, graceful, could command a room or be completely obedient, she was a favorite among the patrons and the staff and other slaves, and her reward was to get married off to a powerful, wealthy, and handsome Master who never brought her back, who never even came back after he acquired her.
And here she was in Dare’s family, living a life, a real life, out on the town with Dare’s sisters, free. She didn’t have a husband any longer and she hadn’t been sent back. Dare’s sister had said she was pregnant, too. I don’t think she even had anything on her throat when I’d seen her.
“They didn’t want her back?” I asked, in awe.
“Pop specified Tommy and me as guardians in case of his death. Kruna bosses found that acceptable.”
“What did you specify?” I asked softly.
“I didn’t. Pop arranged you and they never asked me. I guess I’d better find out.” He reached to the coffee table and grabbed and then started to fiddle with his phone. I went to climb off him to give him space, but he gripped me tighter.
“Don’t go,” he said softly.
I closed my eyes and nuzzled into his chest as he thumbed away on the phone.
I didn’t want to even think about him being gone. He was amazing, thinking about making sure I didn’t go back to them if something happened to him.
“A girl whose Master died was brought back,” I said softly into his shirt. “He hadn’t made a provision, so she was brought back. She committed suicide not long after returning.”
He put his phone down and put both arms around me and gave me a squeeze and then kissed my forehead. Against it he said, “I will make sure that they can never hurt you again, baby. I promise.”
I nodded.
He tipped my chin up so that I had to look at his face. His handsome strong jaw, his stormy blue eyes, his beautiful mouth.
“I don’t make promises lightly. You should know that. But I promise you I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. Okay?”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes and lay on him while we quietly watched TV for the next little while.