Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Now that she’s made sure her precious heir won’t die, she’ll just move on as if nothing happened.
Stifling a groan of pain, I reach for my phone on the edge of the table. Nate brought it over earlier before he headed out to attend to one of his cases.
I turn on the Wi-Fi and a thousand pings accumulate all at once. Messages from Owen, Asher, and even Reina. Other friends. Other people.
Just when I’m about to clear all the notifications, I notice something.
Someone.
A message from Naomi and it’s a day old.
Straightening, I ignore the pain as I click on it faster than anything I’ve done in my entire life.
Naomi: I’m fine. I survived. Barely. But I lost something in there, Sebastian. I lost a part of me that I don’t think I’ll ever find again. I’m just going through the motions so I can be there for Mom. She decided to spend her last days in Japan and I tagged along. This place has grown on me and I don’t think I’ll want to leave, even after Mom’s gone. Don’t try to find me, because the moment you do, I’ll run again. I can’t look at your face anymore without recalling what happened to me. I keep wondering if saving you was worth the sacrifice and if maybe you should’ve been the one who sacrificed instead. I’ll never know the answers to those questions, but I do know that whatever I felt for you vanished the moment I took the blow for you. I can never be with you again without feeling pain, and, therefore, I’m ending whatever we had. Live well.
The more times I read it, the stronger my grip around the phone becomes until my knuckles turn white.
My nightmare wasn’t wrong, after all.
They did rape her.
“Fuck…” I murmur with a pained groan as my chest tightens so hard, it’s impossible to breathe.
I grab a fistful of my hospital gown in the place where my heart lies and suck in shaky breaths.
The ugliness of the situation is like a weight slamming over my chest, but I don’t let the circumstances rule me.
I hit the call button and place the phone to my ear. I’m surprised when it rings. I don’t know why I thought she would’ve turned off her phone.
My pulse rate heightens with every ring. Just when I think it’ll go to voicemail, she picks up. “Hello?”
My heart jolts against my rib cage and some of the asphyxiation withers away.
I’ve thought of so many things to tell her since I woke up, but now that she’s on the other end, I don’t know what to say.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I speak the only words I feel deep in my bones. “Baby…I’m sorry.”
“You’re the one who said to never apologize for something you never had a hand in.” Her voice is apathetic, toneless, and I fucking hate it.
I hate that she feels far away—both physically and emotionally.
“But I couldn’t protect you and you blame me for it. I totally understand.”
“You understand nothing. You weren’t there.”
“But I’m here now and I will be there for you.”
“I don’t need you.”
“But I need you.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
“It was the anger talking in that text. I know you care.”
“No. I realized that I don’t.”
“You said you loved me, Nao.”
“I thought I did, but it was all smoke and mirrors.”
“You promised to fucking marry me.”
“You didn’t really think I meant it, did you? I was exhausted and at my physical limit and would’ve said anything at the time.”
“Baby…listen to me…”
“No, it’s time you listen to me. I’m done with you, Sebastian.”
“But I’m not done with you,” I growl into the phone. “I’ll never be done with you, do you hear me? You can escape to the other side of the globe and I’ll follow and make you mine again. I’ll chase you over and over until you know you can’t escape me. I meant it when I said you’re mine and I don’t plan to let it end.”
“It’s over.” Her voice lowers, losing its apathetic tone for the first time as she murmurs, “Reality.”
The phone goes dead. The beep that indicates the end of a call echoes in my ear like a raging thunderstorm.
My hand flexes around the device and I stare at it, as if holding it tighter will conjure her voice again.
But I know it won’t, not when the last thing she said is reverberating in my ear.
Reality.
Naomi just used her safe word and completely erased me from her world as if I never fucking existed.
14
Akira
Dear Yuki-Onna,
I don’t know why I keep writing to you at this point.
Not only have you erased me from your life as if I’ve never been there, but you also treated our relationship as nonexistent.
Is that what you do to people you know? Act as if they mean nothing?