Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
“Ah hell. What are you doin’ here, Stark?”
Stark flicked a finger at the TV. “This man found a clock in his attic. Can you believe it’s four hundred years old? How does such a treasure arrive unknowingly to a person’s attic? I smell fraud.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I repeated.
“I thought you did not cuss.”
He must’ve heard me say something about that once, though I couldn’t remember the last time I mentioned it to anyone. My good-girl days were over.
“Yeah, well, I thought vampires only lived in books. How fucking wrong was I?”
Stark glanced over his shoulder in my direction. “Come. Sit. We have much to discuss.”
“I’m just fine right here.” I flicked off the safety on my shotgun.
“Tsk, tsk, woman. By now you should know that won’t stop me.”
“But it could slow you down. What do you want, Stark?”
“To talk, Mrs. Stark. I believe I just said that.”
I hated how he’d called me that. I would never accept my marriage to his brother as valid. “Then talk.”
He sighed with exasperation and stood. He went to the fridge, poured a glass of white wine, and set it on the counter. “I brought you this. It’s from my collection. A 2019 Vouvray with notes of figs.”
“I don’t want your fancy fig wine.”
“It’s from grapes. It only tastes like—you know what? Never mind. Just drink it,” he commanded.
“No.”
“You’re going to need it,” he said.
Oh no. What now? I took the wine, gulped it down, and set the empty glass on the counter. Tasted nothin’ like figs. Figment of his imagination maybe.
“How the fuck could you marry him?” Stark roared, shedding his calm façade.
That was why he was here? To berate me over that bastard Lazlo?
He went on, “You had to know I’d find you after they took you. Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“How the hell could I’ve known that?” I barked back.
“Because you are mine!” he yelled, pounding a fist on my counter. The tile shattered beneath his fist.
“No. I’m not. And for your information, that asshole had my sister. I had no choice.” I looked away, refusing to cry.
“Did he fuck you? Did you enjoy it?”
Rage filled every corner of my mind. How dare he ask that? His brother had done horrible things to me, things that would haunt me for the rest of my life, and all he could ask was if I’d enjoyed it? “Get. Out.”
“Not until you answer me!”
I lifted my chin. “Leave or I will have you executed for defying my orders.” He wasn’t allowed inside Leiper’s Fork.
His eyes twitched with loathing. And for what? Because I’d fallen into the hands of an evil vampire who’d wanted revenge against him?
I added, “None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t stolen the love of his life all those years ago. This is your fault!”
Stark charged at me with an open hand, stopping shy of putting it around my neck.
“Go ahead. Kill me. Just like Lazlo killed Anna. What does any of it matter now? She’s gone, and I’m done. Done with you, your kind, and everything else. Just leave me alone. I never want to see you again.”
“You say this to me?” he boiled, his chest rapidly rising and falling. “I saved you twice. I proved my feelings, and you just…” He threw his hands in the air. “You banned me from my own home.”
“Oh, boohoo. The almighty Montgomery Stark’s plan to rule the vampire world forever has come to a bitter end. Maybe next time, try winning like the gentleman you claim to be, instead of behaving like Lazlo. Oh, wait. Not so easy, right? Because you’re just like him—a vile, bloodsucking parasite.”
I never saw anyone as angry as Montgomery Stark in that moment. Bottomless fury wrapped in all-consuming bitterness.
“You will pay, Masie. I will destroy you and dance on your grave.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Only, you won’t be dead, and no one will hear your cries for mercy ten feet under.”
Before I could respond, he was gone.
I whooshed out a breath. Now it was time to cry.
I knew he’d protected me the other night. I knew there was a part of me that felt a connection between us. The truth was, maybe I loved him back. At the very least, I wanted him.
But my heart just couldn’t go there. Not ever. Not after these monsters had caused so much pain. I’d watched my family and life fall apart after Daddy’s heart attack, but he hadn’t really died. Their stupid rules kept him from us. Then I’d been terrorized after finding out vampires were real and one of them was stalking me.
Finally, there was Lazlo.
He hadn’t raped me, but what he’d taken was more valuable than my virginity. On our wedding night, instead of making love and being held in the arms of the man I loved, like I’d always dreamed, Lazlo made me beg like a dog for my life as he drank from my thighs. And arms. And neck.