Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
I stumbled away from the bushes, my eyes darting left and right.
Where is she now? And when did she get a knife earlier? Was it in our bedroom?
David had said that she left our room. The guards followed. Then she sliced their necks outside of the nursery.
She had a knife hidden somewhere in our fucking bedroom?
The very idea of that delivered chills down my spine.
Dangerous. So fucking dangerous.
It was no doubt that she could have killed me in an instant before David or anyone could have saved me.
There, I slept powerless on the bed, while she decided to wreak havoc.
A noise came from my right.
She jumped out of the darkness with the knife, trying to slice my other arm.
Ready, I dodged this one, twisted around, and caught her from behind. Dust kicked up around us.
“Get off of me!” She tried to stab my shoulder.
I flipped her to the ground, catching her by surprise.
“Ah!” She fell back.
Fast, I dived to the ground, grabbed her leg, and pulled her to me.
“Let go!” She kicked at me with the other leg. “Let go!”
Flowers and rocks flew around.
I crawled on top of her and battled for the knife. It glinted dangerously in her grip.
With a big heave, I managed to wrench it away.
The knife clattered next to us.
“Enough!” I grabbed both of her hands, pressed them down in the dirt, and hovered over her.
She panted and gazed up at me with wide eyes. “Three for three.”
“That is not how this will work—”
“It will—”
“It will not!”
“You kill Max. I kill Valentina.” She sneered.
I trembled. “What?”
“You kill Boris. I kill David.” Her bottom lip quivered. “I made a list. You better not mess with me, mean old lion!”
I let her hands go and rolled off her. “The gardener was not supposed to touch you—”
“He tasted like cinnamon gum!” She blinked and tears left her eyes. “And he put flowers in my hair!”
I inhaled and exhaled, trying to catch my breath.
“I wasn’t. . .” she lowered her voice. “I wasn’t trying to fall in love.”
I gritted my teeth.
“I just wanted to smell the garden with my nose.” She raised her hand and touched the tip of her nose. “And I wanted to touch some of the roses.”
“You could have touched roses without getting fucked in your ass!”
“His tongue tasted like cinnamon gum—”
“That’s enough!”
She hugged herself and cried, “He loved me. . .”
Sighing, I crawled over, got to Lunita’s side, and tried to hug her.
She punched me in the chest. She wasn’t my mouse, so it brought no pain. Still, I hated to see her so sad, so angry.
I kept my voice calm. “What did you think I would do, if I found out?”
“I. . .”
“Tell me.”
“I thought she would stop you, and save him.”
“When it comes to another man touching her and your body. . .not even Emily could stop me.”
Lunita faced me. Tears spilled from her eyes. “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
My heart ached, but I wouldn’t give in. To do so, would be to change too much of me. The very idea of sharing Emily and Lunita made my jaw tighten and my fists clench.
I frowned. “You are mine.”
“I don’t want to be.”
“Why not?”
“You’re rough. He was soft. You’re mean. He was nice—”
“I can be nice.”
“You’re hers.” She pointed at me and then touched her chest. “He was mine!”
I unclenched my fist and rubbed my head.
Lunita’s voice cracked at the end. “He was my. . .Flower Man.”
Her saying that didn’t make me feel bad. It just made want to kill him again.
I turned to her. “How do I fix this?”
“You should have let him get on the plane and leave.”
“He still would have been gone—”
“But, then I could have called him and said goodbye.”
I didn’t want him to even hear your voice. That’s mine too.
As if hearing my thoughts, she scowled. “Stubborn, stupid, mean old lion.”
“You killed Olga.”
“I did.”
“Did you not like her?”
“I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“She knew. I could see it in her eyes.” Lunita touched her head.
“Knew what?”
“She is like Boris and Blue and you and even Max.”
“In what way?”
“You all always know when I’m here, and Olga knew. She knew when Emily was gone, even if she didn’t know about me. She could tell. I know it. I could see the click in her eyes, even though she would pretend, but she knew. . .”
Of course. Olga was smart.
Pain blossomed in my chest.
I touched it.
Lunita watched me. “Now you know how I feel. Now your heart hurts just like mine.”
“That is one thing you are correct about tonight.” I rubbed the center of my chest. “Killing Olga hurt.”
“Good.”
“You did not have to—”
“I did.”
I dropped my hand. “How do I fix this?”
“It’s three for three.” Lunita hugged herself. “We’re good.”
I eyed her. “Where did you hide the knife? Where in our bedroom?”
A wicked smile spread across her face. “Scared?”