Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
I could barely handle the way his voice broke in sorrow when he asked, “Is that why? Is that why you did it?”
Green eyes roved over me as if they were searching for something to believe in when they’d lost all faith.
“Yes.” It was the scrap of a sound that I pressed from my tongue. Sometimes a lie was nothing but compassion.
Logan recoiled like I’d driven a blade through his ribs. Misery wracked through my being.
Then his forehead dropped to mine on a pained gasp, and he was mumbling, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” over and over again.
Agony cleaved through my spirit.
I tried to hold it. To keep it from cutting both of us in two.
“We were born into those lives,” I managed.
“And I was supposed to take you from it. Together, we were supposed to find better lives.”
In the dimness, my fingertips found the tattoo inscribed on his side. I didn’t need to see it to know where it was, to remember what he’d written on himself like a brand.
“Who bought them, Logan?” My voice warbled with the question, as if maybe I could understand. My promise to my father had never been a real intention. But somehow, after everything, I needed to know.
The twin stones.
The reigning crown jewel.
Two stones that perfectly matched, their settings made of clasps that interconnected and made one matching stone. Each hung from rhodium necklaces.
Necklaces that had been passed down from my grandfather to my father.
Necklaces that fools had fought over for generations.
Necklaces that set together were said to be worth thirty million dollars, even though they could never be sold at auction. Their existence was a rumor that had been true, only sought by thieves and cheats and swindlers.
Necklaces that had cost us everything.
GREED.
Logan was the last known to have them in his possession.
He froze for the barest moment, the only movement the sticky awareness that skimmed the surface of his skin.
He averted his gaze when he grated, “You know I can’t tell you that.”
Tears blurred and burned.
I didn’t know why it hurt so bad.
“When?” Sadness poured out.
Logan hesitated, warred, his teeth gritting when he forced out, “After I came for you. It was the only thing I had left.”
“I did. I burned it all to the fucking ground, Aster, and you already know what happened when I got there. You were no longer mine.”
“Your brother died the night you left me.” It rushed out on a breath of sorrow. I didn’t know the details.
It was the same night I’d barely survived myself.
Logan and I strewn across the earth.
Separated.
Cleaved in two.
His entire being wept. Obliterated pain reverberated through the low hung words when he rasped, “That night cost me everything.”
“I hate it…I hate what this life has caused.”
And I wanted to drown. Slip away and disappear. But Logan gathered me up in his arms and pressed a kiss to my mouth.
“Don’t look back, Aster. Not right now. There are too many things between us we can’t undo, and we have to focus on what we can change.”
I worked to swallow the sorrow. I’d lived in the chains of agony for so long. Now they rattled. Clanged and clashed.
“What is the one thing that would turn your father against Jarek?” he pressed.
My father considered Jarek the son he’d never had. Dethroning him would take the greatest disloyalty.
I blinked through the hopelessness that wanted to enfold. “I’d need to prove he was stealing from him or keeping something from him that would hurt the family.”
“And you believe he is?”
“I don’t believe he’s ever been truly loyal.” My eyes fluttered over the intensity that rippled over Logan’s face. “There’s always been something there, Logan, something at odds with my family.”
“I won’t stop until I find out what that is.” Logan paused, lost in thought. “That night, I think Jarek set me up. I’ve always believed the whole thing was a setup.”
Hope blazed, burned against the helplessness. “I never believed you were the one responsible, Logan. He knew…I know he knew about us. He knew I was going to leave. But it will always be your word against Jarek’s, and you know whose side my father is going to take. He truly thinks him a son.”
“I will find a way.”
“My sister is trying.” I hadn’t told him about it. I hadn’t been sure what I could trust him with.
Logan frowned.
My tongue swept out to wet my dried lips. “There’s a safe in Jarek’s office at our house. I don’t think he knew I saw that there’s a fake bottom when he was slipping something in one time, and he always seems more secretive and on edge when he opens it. My gut tells me if there’s something to find, we’ll find it in there.”
“Let me do it.” He nearly flew off the bed.
I grabbed onto him like there might be a chance I would never have to let him go. “No, Logan, you can’t go back there. It’s a miracle my father agreed to this at all. If he catches wind of you digging into family matters…”