Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
The garden looked so inviting, and being locked up in her bedroom during the height of summer wasn’t exactly thrilling.
There’s nothing wrong with me going outside.
I’m just being stubborn.
It is perfectly okay for me to enjoy the garden.
And so, grabbing her sunglasses from the bedside table and donning a pair of flip-flops, she made her way out of the bedroom.
Several of the guards visibly looked shocked at the sight of her. They had grown used to her “childish behavior”—Mason’s words, as well as her brothers’—not hers.
She didn’t consider her behavior childish, she felt it was more fitting to the life she didn’t want. Why pretend to be happy? She wasn’t. She hated this life. There was no freedom here. She couldn’t walk the streets, greet people, and just live.
No, there were guards and permissions. She had grown to love the life as Tanya Davis. Every second there had been a breath of fresh air.
Not now. This was a nightmare. Guards were everywhere. Even at night, there were always a couple posted outside her door. Sometimes she heard them talking, other times, she attempted to drown them out. It wasn’t always easy. None of this was easy.
She hated this life so much.
Ignoring Mason’s open office door, she slipped right on past and went straight toward the back patio doors that led outside into the warm air.
The house was warm. They only ever put the air conditioner on at night, which was driving her a little crazy. No doubt about it, she loved being outside.
She walked straight past the guards and stepped onto the garden lawn. Mason had a lovely gardener, David. He was a sweet old man in his sixties, and he loved tending the garden. He held a wealth of knowledge about flowers, plants, and everything in between. Tamsin often assisted him in gardening. She never enjoyed it when she was younger, and her mother wouldn’t allow it.
David didn’t seem to mind her company and her constant questions. She had come to learn that he installed a kitchen garden as well as a flower and herb garden. Just the other week, she was out there with him, harvesting some peas for the meal. She loved that, and it kind of helped her feel like her old self for a few hours.
Tanya was free.
Tamsin was trapped.
Since it was Sunday, David was not on the grounds to do the gardening. She was alone. Taking her shoes off the moment she got a couple of feet onto the ground, she closed her eyes, tilting her head up to the sky.
Yesterday, she spent the whole day in the garden while David pruned the herb plants. She loved to run her hands through them. David had insisted she do that, to get a real sense for the scent of the plants. Sometimes, he would pick some of the fruits and leaves for her to try. She had come to learn quite quickly what she liked and didn’t like.
She was also aware that David didn’t like to use chemicals and always attempted organic gardening over anything else.
Dropping to the ground, she sat with her legs crossed, running her hands across the grass, loving the feel of it beneath her fingers. In moments like this, she could pretend her life was normal, or close to normal, that she didn’t have anything to fear.
It was all lies. There was so much to fear.
She hadn’t heard from Landon in a long time, mainly because she had told him to stop calling her. She wouldn’t risk his life. Tamsin would do anything to protect her brother. After all, he did what he could to save her.
She felt tears fill her eyes. The last thing she ever wanted to be was a spoiled brat, and she knew some people would deem her behavior as exactly that. She was so alone, so lost, so terrified, every single hour of every single day.
Anyone could try to kill her.
Mason’s father was still close by, and sometimes he arrived at the most unexpected places. She had started to take a knife to bed, and at times slept with one eye open.
This was not the way she wanted to live.
****
Mason stared out of his office window to look over at his wife. Tamsin Savonas. It had taken him a few months to remember she was his wife, and no longer a Denton.
She belonged to him. As far as everyone else was concerned, she was bound to him and only him, and he wanted to keep it that way. They had yet to consummate their marriage, but only the two of them knew the truth.
His brothers, Connor and Reese, had no idea he’d been a gentleman. Everyone, including his father, had assumed their wedding night would result in a child.
Mason made all the necessary excuses, but he also knew his father was getting impatient. He needed his father to back the fuck off, as he had another plan in motion. When he married Tamsin two years ago, he had a plan in place that would allow him to take over from his father, to remove Paul Savonas from the picture.