Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“You’re getting a trophy?” I asked, not really thinking.
“I’m the captain of the team. We won the match. So, I get a piece of metal that will signify my victory. Though if I’m being honest, I already got the trophy I wanted.”
He slapped my ass on the way past me to the closet where he kept spare clothes to change into.
That was enough to break the spell I was under.
He’d reminded me of exactly what I was to him.
To me, he was a king, a warrior, and a man who could show me all of the things that I didn’t know my body could do.
To him, I was a trophy.
Something he could put on a shelf and show people what he won.
CHAPTER 28
STELLA
Ididn’t know why my body responded the way it did to Lucian.
I had no idea how to prove he was breaking the law.
There was no way for me to understand the numbers that I had found in that file.
If I didn’t get out of Manwarring’s house, out from under his thumb, and more importantly, out of his bed soon, then I never would.
Lucian Manwarring was not a stupid man, and worse, he was not an unobservant man.
Most men didn’t pay attention to the world around them, especially the women around them. If it didn’t directly involve them, they wouldn’t care.
Lucian wasn’t like most men.
If he thought something was off, if he had any inkling that I was planning something, then he would make a move to stop it.
He was a master at defense, so I needed to make sure he didn’t think I was on the offensive.
So, I did the only thing I thought I could do. I was a good girl the rest of that night, with nothing but ‘yes, sir’ from my lips. When we were back around people, I was perfectly poised and behaved as a good ward should. Nobody would have any reason to expect that I was walking around the field without my underwear and my ass still aching from the riding crop and his cock.
I got up and dressed as I was expected to do, and I even had a pleasant breakfast before Lucian left for work.
He was even gracious enough to extend my allowance—it went from two hundred dollars a month to two thousand. It still wasn’t enough, but I couldn’t complain. I refused to complain. Instead, I smiled graciously and thanked him profusely. I didn’t even shy away when he muttered something under his breath about thanking him the proper way after dinner.
After he left for work, I went up to my room and just waited.
Once what I thought was an appropriate amount of time went by, I went downstairs. I didn’t stop to speak to the butler and pretended I didn’t hear him when he called for me. Just because I didn’t treat the staff like garbage, didn’t mean I was willing to be talked down to by some uppity English butler.
The Uber I ordered was waiting at the curb, and I took it to the nearest library.
Signing up for my first New York City library card in my twenties seemed ridiculous.
But there I was.
I just needed to use the computers, and I had seen on some crime shows that the easiest way for people not to see your search history is to use a public computer. I thought about spending part of my allowance on a small laptop or tablet, but I wasn’t sure if Lucian had some way to track my internet.
I knew his butler would rat me out if I asked for the WIFI password.
Three hours later, I was sitting at a coffee shop down the road, sipping my caramel macchiato and looking over the stack of pages I had printed out.
I considered looking into my legal options while at the library, but what could I find with Internet Explorer in two hours that my lawyer, with his years of experience and law school, couldn’t figure out? No, my energy was going to be better spent on finding a job so I could support myself.
Maybe if I got in front of a judge and proved that I was mentally stable, of sound mind and body, and financially responsible, then he would reverse the decision and give me my life back.
“Stella? Is that you?” a familiar and almost musical voice asked.
I looked up to see a woman I didn’t recognize at first.
She was wearing a pantsuit from at least three seasons ago that didn’t quite fit her right. She was gorgeous, her auburn hair pulled into a high ponytail, highlighting her light blue eyes, which had dark bags under them. She was a beautiful girl who looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown and holding her sanity together with duct tape. A sentiment I could very much relate to.