Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74291 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74291 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“He’s so angry,” she whispers, and it’s then I notice my shirt is wet with her tears. I hold her close.
“What’s his story?” I ask her.
I don’t really give a damn, but seeing the dynamics between the two, I know there has to be something between them. I find myself changing from wanting to kill the fucking kid to trying to fix him. For Ana. Always for Ana. I’ve already accepted that this is my reality. I may never have planned on claiming a woman, but she’s mine and by God I will move Heaven and Earth just to make sure she doesn’t cry like she’s doing right now. I keep rubbing my hand back and forth on her arm, kissing the top of her head and just holding her close while quiet sobs shake her body. The interior of the limo is alive with her sadness. It’s killing me, but all I can do is let her cry it out.
“Remember how I told you about the man who thought he’d try to turn to me instead of—?”
“Shh… Ana, I remember,” I tell her, not wanting her to repeat it, not wanting to ever hear about it again. I had Bruno track down the fucker who was arrested in the police raid that Banks was a part of. I sent the information to Marcum. He’s gone. I made his head top priority. I can deal with Banks breathing air a few more days. The thought of the fucker who tried to hurt Ana drawing more breath is unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.
“I wasn’t his first choice. That night… wasn’t the first time it had happened,” she whispers the guilty secret.
“Ana?”
“I ran and hid,” she whispers remorsefully. “God, Roman. Paul doesn’t believe me, but I didn’t think he would. I mean I know now I was naïve, but Allen was a boy. A little boy. What kind of sick monster would… Oh, God.”
“Ana, sweetheart…”
“I hid in a closet, not knowing that just a room over that monster was raping my little brother,” she confesses, crying. “When… when Allen finally told me, it had been going on for a week, Roman. A week.”
“What did you do when you found out, pet?”
“I tried to…”
“What, Ana?” Knowing what she’s about to say, the hate burning in my gut is threatening to explode.
“I tried to—” She breaks off, unable to say the words. Her face is buried so tight into my chest that her words are muffled. No one should live with the misery that my woman has locked inside of her. How did she get to be such a giving person? How did she rise above everything that is in her past? More reasons that Ana will always fascinate me.
“You tried to sacrifice yourself to save your brother, didn’t you, Ana? That’s when Banks found you.”
“Yes.”
“Ana, sweetheart, you did all you could do. You were just a kid.”
“Allen was younger. I should have protected him more. I should have known that a monster preys on all children, not just one because she’s a girl. I was stupid.”
“You were a kid. That’s all, Ana. Just a kid. If anyone is to blame, it’s that snake whose bills you’re paying in that nursing home.”
“Allen despises me most of all for that. But I couldn’t just turn her out on the street, Roman. I hate her for what she’s done. But she can’t even go to the bathroom by herself. I can’t just turn my back…”
She can and she should, but that’s a fight for another time and if I have to pay room and board for that bitch the rest of her life, I will, but Ana will never see the woman again. I won’t allow her poison anywhere near Ana.
“I know it may not feel like it, Ana. But it will be okay. I’ll make it okay.”
“Some things even the great Roman Anthes can’t accomplish,” she half laughs, half cries.
“Watch and see, pet. For you, I can do anything,” I tell her truthfully, making a mental note to call Marcum again. There’s going to be a slight change in plans.
“Are we not fighting anymore?” Ana asks.
The question makes me go tense for a second. “Are you still mad at me?”
“No. You’ve been trying to get Allen clean. Haven’t you, Roman?”
“I would have killed him, Ana. You saved his life, but I can’t lie to you. People don’t cross me without me making an example of them. That’s who I am.”
“Can we forget about who you are outside of the time you’re with me and the same with me? Can we just be Roman and Ana when we’re together?”
“Ana, I’m keeping you. That means the outside stuff will always be there. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and expect—”
“I don’t mean forever, Roman. I mean just a few days. Please? Give me a few days to just have you.” Just have you… I love those words, and for once, Ana and I are in complete agreement.