Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
I didn’t know that she was being followed, but I’m glad for it because I trust those guys not to let anything happen to her on their watch, but I know now that I should be the one protecting her always. I didn’t realize it before; the thought never even crossed my mind. And it sucks that in the past, I was the one she needed protecting from more than anyone else.
I didn’t feel like walking away and leaving the mess for someone else to clean up, not like in times past, but I hated the thought of being the one to hurt her even further. Still, I can’t leave it to someone else to do. There’s so much that needs doing, but without her consent, my hands are tied unless I make good on my threat and take her out of here against her will, which might not be the best move at this point, but something I’m giving serious thought to.
There’s one other option, but even that might draw her wrath. Knowing how loyal she is, even to those who’ve wronged her, I find myself less ready to share the last bit of news that I’ve been withholding, but now as the day grows late and I have to leave soon, there’s no way to put it off any longer.
If only she’d agree to leave with me right now, but I know she won’t. She has a life, a life that went on without me. There were times when we were together when people claimed she was feeding off of my fame, which I found laughable even then since she was the child star while I was the new kid on the block.
I’m not sure what it says about my effect on her since she’d blossomed more without me than she had when we were a couple. She’d branched out in ways that no one expected, and no one was prouder of her achievements than I am. I see why her enemies had been frothing at the mouth for the past five years, but there’s something I could’ve told them about my girl. She’s one of those people who come out swinging when backed into a corner.
Once I started looking back at the last five years through new eyes, it was clear to see the path she’d blazed and the heights she’d reached each time she came under attack. But something else I know is that when she’s hurt, when her heart is raw and wounded, she’s at her best. I’m not sure how that works; when I’m feeling attacked, I usually lick my wounds after raging out, but Elena has always been more levelheaded than I will ever be.
She has the grace and carriage of a queen, always has, and she’s smarter than most of the people in this town. Why Mary and the others who are after her haven’t noticed this about her yet is beyond me, but I guess that bunch only sees what they want.
There are still some things about the whole situation that bother me as well now that my head is clear. Even though we’d pieced together some of the reasons why Mary hated her and had gone to such lengths, and the fact that Matt and Scott saw her as a threat, as someone who would stand in the way of their program where my career and success was concerned, Mary’s part in this whole thing seems out of sync with reality.
For someone who’s made as many strides as she has with so little to offer, namely her talentless daughters who had all achieved millionaire status in a matter of five years and whose name was on everyone’s lips both here and around the world, why would one young girl’s refusal to be managed by her make her go to these extremes?
No matter how I searched, though, there were no answers, and I couldn’t exactly go asking, or it would show my hand too soon. The other thing that’s bothering me is the real reason why Tyler and Zak are here. They’ve been with me long enough for me to realize that there was more at play here than them trying to help me.
Saunders had only touched on it a little when we met at the cabin, but he didn’t trust me enough to tell me then. Maybe I’d earned their trust, if even a little, in the last few weeks. As if I’d conjured them with my thoughts, my phone rang on the night table where I’d left it, and the readout showed that it was Zak.
“What’s up?” I tried keeping my voice low so as not to wake her.
“We’re coming to get you, be ready in five.”
“So soon? I….” I felt nervous. I knew this was coming, that I had to go back if only to clean the house, but I wasn’t ready. After five years apart, the thought of even an hour away from her left me feeling cold, especially when there was so much left to be done between us.