Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
“You taste so good, pretty girl. Even better than I dreamed,” I murmured as I licked her slit.
Azadeh’s moans played in surround sound, an opus in a cinematic production, alluding to an upcoming climax. My need for her consumed me. I’d forgotten how to be preoccupied with the realities of life.
Chapter 17
Azadeh—Age 29
Present Day
Lev’s words linger between us, causing a poisonous thickness in the air.
You can’t fault a man for doing what’s necessary to keep his life safe.
I said something similar thing to him three months ago when I told him I’d forgive anything. Perhaps that statement was a lie, but I sure believed it at the time. But as I stand here, I’m torn between my love for him and my anger. I love him so much that I’d die for him. But he crossed a line and put my sister, my blood, at risk. If anything happens to Mona, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at Lev again.
They say that love breaks your heart, but in reality, it breaks your brain. Your heart is a functional organ that pumps blood, but your brain? Your brain is the organ that twists you up so completely, you break in a million different ways. That’s why I’ve always thought the expression “broken heart” is idiotic. A broken heart means you’re dead. Broken hearts don’t bring about suffering; they bring about morbid relief.
The whole time I was driving up here, I considered different scenarios and their outcomes. I asked myself why Lev would do what he did. Lev, a man I opened my heart and my life to. A man who sat at my maman’s dinner table, eating heaps of food while smiling at her. The same guy who paid for my sister’s expensive college tuition when I didn’t have the money.
Lev has always taken care of my family and me without me having to ask him for anything. Never in a million years did I think he’d cause my world to crash around me one day.
I take in Lev’s frantic state. His breathing is labored, and his eyes are wild as they flit around the room until they finally land on me.
“I’m so fuckin’ sorry. I can’t pretend I didn’t know what I was doing because I did. At first, I was fine when you were in Asia, but I panicked when you were in Tehran. I’d made connections there over the years and had them keeping an eye on you.”
There’s no way Lev would know I was in Iran. I didn’t have my car there, and it’s not like he had a tracker under my skin. His eyes flicker to the Farvahar necklace on my neck. I never take it off. Usually, it’s hidden under my clothes, but I even shower with the piece.
I reach for the necklace and clasp it. “You put a tracker in my necklace?”
Lev looks sheepish, averting his gaze to the expensive Italian marble floors.
“But I’ve had this since I turned nineteen. I wasn’t even doing anything dangerous then. At that time, the plan was to go to med school.”
“It didn’t matter,” Lev whispers. “I have a sickness. I’m a virus that needs containment before I spread. The only person who’s ever made me feel safe is you. As long as I know you’re okay, I’m okay. I told you years ago, Az, I’m not a normal man. My sickness is in my DNA.”
I want to rip the necklace off and gouge out his eyes with the wings of the Farvahar. Not because he’s controlled me when he knows how much my autonomy means to me, but because of his self-deprecation. A part of me wants to lash out and tell him to suck it up, to be an adult. But I don’t. “You know what the problem is between us, Lev?”
His gaze bolts from the floor to focus on me. He’s no longer sheepish as his eyes narrow and his hands form fists at his sides.
“There is no problem between us,” he grits between clenched teeth.
“Buddy, have you forgotten you kidnapped her sister?” Cyrus states the obvious behind me. “I’d say that’s a pretty fucking big problem.”
Ignoring Cyrus, I focus on Lev. “The problem is that I gave you my trust foolishly, and you withheld yours willingly.”
I rise and leave the room, leaving Lev crumpled on the floor.
“No,” I hear Zeke say behind me. “You’ve done enough. I’ll take care of it.”
I open the door to my room, unsure I can call it “mine” now that a part of me feels like I’ve been living a lie. I glance at the wall where a giant mural hangs from ceiling to floor. Persepolis. I smile, remembering how Cyrus worked painstakingly on the piece for months. He’d growled at me when I told him we could get a print. He’d explained that having an artist madly in love with me meant he would paint anything I desired anytime I wanted. Three months later, he covered my eyes and revealed his masterpiece.