Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“She was begging for it,” he replies smugly, without even looking my way. “And besides, it’s my office too.”
That is true. While I graduated from university in Switzerland with a degree in humanities—totally useless for my trajectory but something I found to be incredibly fulfilling—Marius followed in his father’s footsteps and majored in economics and got his MBA immediately following. He joined his father’s firm as a full partner upon receipt of his master’s.
“You’re gross,” I say.
“You’re jealous,” he teases.
And he’s not far off the mark. Since graduating, I’ve been pretty much secluded back here in Bretaria. I’m not jobless, by any means—I’ve been working with my father to learn the family business of mining—but more importantly, I’m learning how to take over the role of sovereign as that event is inevitable.
In college, I was able to spread my wings. It was my first true taste of freedom, and while I always had a security detail, they were discreet and melted into the background. It let me be a college kid who could drink, smoke weed, and have meaningless hookups, although frankly, pretty sure the people assigned to protect me knew I did all those things.
But they wouldn’t have stopped me. My parents wanted me to have the enjoyment of university and all that came with it. My security detail was merely to keep me safe from would-be kidnappers and the like.
Those days are a fond memory, and yeah… I’m totally jealous that Marius gets to live his life the way he wants to.
And because I don’t want to get into my pitiful lack of a sex life since returning home three years ago, I push myself up from the grass. “Let’s dive.”
It’s really what we came here for, so I shed my clothes, leaving me in just a one-piece black swimsuit that’s modest and functional. If I were sunbathing on the beach or at one of our three palace pools, I’d be in a bikini, but cliff diving requires clothing that will actually stay on when I hit the water.
Marius pops up, too, and pulls his tank over his head, tossing it down on top of my clothes.
“Last one off is a rotten egg,” he challenges but politely waits while I wrap my long, blond hair with a hair tie.
I look out over the calm waters, and a shiver runs up my spine. Even though the water is smooth as glass, the thirty-five-foot drop is a bit harrowing. It’s not considered a huge cliff, but the height is dizzying for most people. Marius and I have been secretly diving into the warm waters from this cliff since we were fourteen, and no one has been the wiser.
“Let’s do this,” I say, and before Marius can fathom what I’m doing, I give him a hard push. He stumbles backward by about two feet, which gives me a two-foot head start.
I take one long stride toward the cliff, knowing I only need another four good ones to launch off the edge. Before my foot can leave the grass for the second stride, a voice snarls, “Stop, Your Highness.”
My blood chills in my veins as I recognize the roll of that Russian accent.
My father’s head of security, Dmitri Lebedev.
I slowly turn my head to find him standing fifteen feet away, and he’s pissed. After all this time sneaking out and cliff diving with Marius and essentially taking control of my life, I’ve been busted.
The woman in me—the one who hates being controlled and told what she can and can’t do—rebels against his command, and I actually step closer to the cliff’s edge. Dmitri’s icy-blue eyes flash with fury that I’d dare disobey him.
It’s quite a scary expression. Even Marius feels the dangerous vibes because he mutters in a low voice, “Don’t do it, Cami.”
He knows me well. He knows I’m ninety-five percent sure I’m going to take that dive off the cliff. I mean, I’ve already been busted. My escapades are coming to an end because now I’ll be put under heavy scrutiny and the steel-door passwords will be changed and I will not be made privy to them.
Fuck it. Might as well take one last dive.
I turn toward the cliff and the sparkling waters and prepare for a mad dash. He can’t catch me in time.
But before I even lift my foot again, Dmitri says in a deadly calm, rumbling tone, “Take one step, and I’ll shoot him.”
Ever so slowly, I glance over my shoulder and see that Dmitri has his gun unholstered, in his hands and pointed directly at Marius.
For a split second, I’m terrified he’ll actually shoot my best friend to keep me from jumping. Dmitri has no clue that I’ve done this hundreds of times, and he’s a bit crazy to begin with. He has no limits by which to hold him back in the protection of the Winterbourne family, so he could very well put a bullet in Marius’s leg to stop me.