Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“I would have to have been attached to detach.”
“I don’t mean to me,” he admits easily. “I mean the idea of me. You were attached to the idea of us or you never would have run off when I was offered your sister instead. You believed I wanted her. That she would just as easily be to me what you are. You were afraid to lose the one thing you wanted and were brave enough to go and get on your own, consequences be damned. Still are if I had to guess, being you have no word to go on but my own.”
“Yeah, well, had I known those consequences would lead to becoming the scraps of a crime boss one day, forced to live in a lifeless mansion, I would have made a better choice, but hey, we all make mistakes, right?” I pin him with a flat stare, not denying a single word he had to say.
Of course I would expect him to want Rocklin, and of course I’ve detached from the idea of being his wife. For fuck’s sake, he already had one and left her for me.
History always repeats itself and I’m under no impression I am somehow “more than” she was. Is. What the fuck ever.
Enzo sits down beside me, his dark eyes snapping to my hair that lies against the pillows before lifting his gaze to mine. “The only mistake you have made is holding back the questions you really want to ask. So rectify that. Ask me what you wish to know. Ask me what I should have already told you, but haven’t.”
“Why?”
“Because you want to know.”
“No.” I shake my head, pushing up so we’re nearly eye level. “You misunderstand.”
Slight creases frame his eyes as he searches mine. “Break it down for me.”
“It’s simple. Why didn’t you tell me?”
It’s brief, but for a split second, a stunned expression crosses his face. His smirk appears a moment later. It’s deep and satisfied.
It’s kind of unnerving.
“You didn’t expect me to ask that.”
“Not right away, no, but it’s the question I would have started with.” He tips his head slightly, that smirk loosening in a way that is far too flirty. It annoyingly chips at the ball of anger burning in my chest. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to back out. I wanted this and was willing to hide whatever needed to be hidden to have it.”
This. It.
I pull my lips between my teeth as I turn over his so very carefully worded response. He wanted me more than he wanted Katana, and of course he would. Who else had the ability to give him that offer to our world he’s been after?
Not her, that’s for sure.
So of course he would want me instead…until a better opportunity comes along.
But then again, it’s not Katana’s lips permanently inked into his skin, right there for all to see. It wasn’t her he took to that dinner with the Mitchells, and she’s not the woman he planned to name for Fortune Flave’s magazine article that day.
What is all this about?
What is he about?
A thought crosses my mind. “If you still plan to overthrow my family, it won’t work. We both know when this marriage ends, so does the access going through with it granted you.”
His features harden in an instant. “Who says this marriage is going to end?”
“History.” One word. That’s all I say, but we both know what I mean.
Enzo runs his pointer finger over his lower lip as he stares at me. After a silent moment, he shrugs, nodding. “You’re right. This marriage will end…” He leans in, pulling my hair over my shoulder, his eyes on the tips as they tease my ribs before narrowing on my own. “When I’m six feet under and not a second sooner, so go ahead, Little Bride. Get mad, bury yourself in your thoughts and assume the worst, we both know I’m capable of it, but know all you’re gonna do is strip yourself of the life you could have because you’re so focused on what you fear you won’t.”
Enzo pushes off the bed and heads for the door. Just as he slips into the hall, I shout.
“If you think I entered into this secretly hoping for a fairy tale, you’re wrong.”
He looks over his shoulder, meeting my eyes. “If you think that’s not exactly what I could give you, you’re wrong.”
My mouth opens in rebuttal, but the hard expression that falls over Enzo as he spins to face me fully has me pausing.
“I was coming to tell you we have a fundraiser dinner to be at tonight. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to reveal our relationship to everyone. Press, friends, family. Enemies. They’ll all be there. I wanted my fiancée on my arm, so I could claim her as mine in front of the world tonight. So everyone would know, without a doubt, that I am yours.”