Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Bane stands at the bottom of the stairs, holding out his arm with a possessive smirk. I force myself to take it, all the while wishing for a different life, a different fate. My father’s face flashes in my mind, and I blink back fresh tears. The thought of what might happen to him if I don’t uphold my end of the bargain is too much to bear.
I can’t let him down. I won’t. As I link my arm with Bane’s, the weight of my sacrifice presses down on me, sealing my fate with each step toward the inevitable.
Chapter 13
Ledger
All week, I've been in a foul fucking mood. Every day, I've lashed out at various employees, unable to control my seething anger at the thought of Posey marrying Bane soon. The frustration gnaws at me, a constant reminder of what I'll never have. It's as if a storm is brewing inside me, and everyone around me is caught in its path.
"Are you okay?" Adele asks, her voice smooth and controlled. It's clear she's treading carefully, trying to shield herself from the torrent of rage I've unleashed on everyone else this week. Her calm demeanor only highlights my own lack of control, making the guilt of my actions sting even more.
I scrub a hand across my jaw. “I don’t even know anymore.” I feel like I’m going insane. I can’t stop thinking about Posey.
It’s become sort of an obsession for me. I can’t stop drawing posies. I’m thinking about getting the designs inked on my skin.
Would she freak?
She'd never see it if I got a new tattoo, would she?
I think back on the night she asked to see them. How badly I wanted her to touch me.
“Fuck,” I curse out, remembering my conversation with Bane. How we discussed the attack.
“What is it?” Adele asks me, her heels clacking along the floor as she draws in closer.
“I just remembered the Delgados are coming in tonight.”
Adele sets her iPad down on my desk. “It’s kind of ridiculous that he’s asked you to watch her. Can’t he trust his own men?”
I think back to what Bane told me, how he believes there’s someone in his outfit selling him out. That the person trying to take him down is the same person who attacked Posey. Either way, I don’t trust anyone to watch her but me.
In fact, I hate that he has her living at his house knowing someone is trying to come after him. How do I know he’s keeping her safe?
He’s ensured me he is, and that nobody would ever think to attack anyone at his complex, but I can’t be so sure.
I’ve been waiting all week for her to answer my text. What will she give me? It almost makes me giddy, and I know I can’t go there with her.
Yet, my mind still fantasizes about her giving me a kiss.
Her giving me her fucking virginity.
That’s what I really want. I want to be the one to claim her. Make her mine. Not his.
I blink back at Adele, answering her question, “I guess he can’t.”
“Can you believe the DA dropped the case?”
I shake my head, my eyes connecting with Adele’s blue ones. “Yes. A man like Bane doesn’t get caught. He has the power to make a witness disappear.”
Adele slides into the chair across from my desk. “I don’t get how a woman like Posey ends up with a man like Bane.”
I rap my knuckles along my desk in thought. “Me either.” I know Posey had told me she met him through her father, but did she really fall in love with him?
How could she?
I mean sure, he’s powerful and I’ve heard women say he’s good-looking, but Posey doesn’t seem like a woman who’d be impressed by such things.
Maybe I don’t know her as well as I think I do.
Adele and I leave my office, and I make my way downstairs just as Bane enters the club with his entourage. Posey’s tucked away at his side, his hand on the small of her back.
It makes me all ragey seeing it. I nearly growl before making my way closer.
She steps away from him as soon as she sees me, and it’s as if time stands still.
She’s drop-dead gorgeous, and I feel like I could literally drop dead by looking at her. She’s got on this red number paired with bright red lipstick that makes her lips look even juicier than normal. I want to suck on them. I want to watch them suck on me.
The dress hugs every curve, pushing her tits together to make the most mouth-watering cleavage I’ve ever seen. I want to bury my face in it and never come up to see the light of day ever again.
I breathe in deep through my nose, and out my mouth, trying to calm my body down. It’s not working.