Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
But Adam isn’t listening.
“Here she is!” Adam waves to someone behind my head. The elevator has opened and several board members are standing there, scowling at me. A committee of vultures, identical to the man with their glowering faces and dark suits.
“I’ve got her,” Adam says and turns me to face him. “Daphne, are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“Our press conference.”
“Wait.” Everything is happening too fast. “What press conference?”
“Just follow my lead.” He’s tugging me to the door. The security guards are opening it.
“No—wait—”
Cameras flash. I’m blinded.
“She’s here, everyone,” Adam is saying, laughing. He shines his toothpaste grin at everyone, basking in the flashing lights. He loves the cameras and they love him.
“Mr. Archer! Mr. Archer!”
“No—” I try to blunder back into the building, but the board is there, waiting just inside. Adam catches my arm and eases me into his side.
“She’s a little camera shy. But that’s okay. I talk enough for the both of us.”
Oh gods, no. I can feel it happening—the old Daphne surfacing. The people pleaser, the one who does whatever her father tells her to do. Smile for the camera, Daphne. Hold the award up nice and high so we all can see it. See what you’re worth.
You don’t see me. I want to scream. You never did. But Adam is waving to a TV crew, his arm around me as we pose. I move with him in lockstep. Everyone’s speaking over me and I just let them.
“Dr. Laurel, where were you? Can you comment on the state of the merger?”
“Enough, enough,” Adam waves his hands and the press settles down. I’ve always wondered how he could do that—magically calm the storm. “I have a question to ask Daphne. And I think you’ll want to hear it.”
My heart beats so loud I barely hear what he says next. But I don’t need to. I can guess. Because, in front of everyone, the ecstatic press and the somber-faced board members, Adam gets down on one knee.
No. My heart stops.
“Daphne,” Adam murmurs.
What, my lips shape the word but no sound comes out. From his pocket, Adam produces a small black box and opens it. A diamond flashes like a paparazzi's camera.
Over the rising roar of the crowd and the rushing in my ears I read Adam’s lips as he asks, “Will you make me the happiest man on Earth?”
Twenty-Six
Logan
Letting her go was the right thing to do. I pace the basement lab while waiting for the latest set of experiments to run.
Work is the only thing I can think to do so I don’t go out of my mind while she’s gone from the castle. She’ll like that I’m doing work on Battleman’s. When she gets back I’ll finally tell her what I’m working on. Maybe… Maybe we could work on it together. It could be our life’s goal together. I could prove to her she doesn’t have to carry the load alone anymore.
Still, other thoughts pop in, and they’re annoyingly loud.
You should never have let her go. The second they get her back in her clutches, she’ll—
No. She’s not like that. She’s strong. I’ve helped her become strong. She’s mine. She swore a sacred vow when she gave her body to me and me alone. They can never have back what’s mine.
My hands clench in fists but I force myself to breathe out. She’s my Daphne. Loyal to a fault. She’s the one person in the world who will never betray me.
But gods, I miss her face already.
I heave my large body down into an office chair in front of a research laptop and in spite of myself, can’t help but type her name in a search bar.
I just need to see her face to tide me over. She should be calling any moment. She said she’d keep me up to date on how her father is and when she’ll be back. My phone is in my breast pocket but I don’t pull it out for the thousandth time to check the battery and whether or not the volume is at full capacity. It’s a weakness and I hate that she makes me weak.
But for Daphne, I’ll bear a little weakness.
So I pull up the page of results from her name, expecting the same old news articles from years ago with press photos.
But instead—
My fist pounds on the table when the first thing that comes up is a photo of the two of them.
Adam fucking Archer.
Holding my Daphne’s hand, grinning up at her with the smile his father paid a fortune for, down on one fucking knee.
The click-bait headline shouts: Magnate Playboy Adam Archer Finally Getting Hitched!
I roar and throw the laptop against the wall, smashing it to pieces. Then I stand and grab anything else within range. Raging. Destroying everything.
When I’m done, almost all the lab equipment is upended, there’s shattered glass everywhere, and my heart is on the floor among the shards.