Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
I punched a wall and screamed my anger out. Then I walked away, washed my bleeding knuckles and dressed as sharply as I always did. It would be the only sign of weakness I’d show. I had to be strong. I had to show my Rose who held the reins.
I’d already told her she’d be punished if she ran, but I wasn’t sure she knew exactly what that meant. It was hard to think rationally when she wasn’t in my arms, and I was worried - not about not finding her, but about what I would do to Harlow Granger once she was back at my mercy. It wouldn’t be fucking pretty; that much was for sure.
I rubbed my eyes and left the room, finding Pia waiting patiently on the other side of the door. Only then did I notice she was perfectly made up, dressed to the nines like always and wearing heels that still made her half my height.
“We’re leaving,” I barked at her, and she nodded, trying to keep up with me as I strode downstairs. “We’ll take the BMW. I’ll drive.”
“Where are we going?” she asked, her heels clicking on the floor.
“London,” I replied. “The place she feels most at home in.”
We were sitting on my private jet, and I had a glass of scotch in my hand.
My men had come back to us with empty hands, making me roar in anger. I knew there was a better chance of finding her back in her hometown, but I was still desperate to get my hands on her as soon as possible. Maybe we’d even get to the UK before her, but instinctively, I knew it was where she would go. It was where she felt at home, where she believed her life fell off the tracks. I knew where to find her. As soon as I had tabs on her, I would begin her punishment. There was no doubt about it - Harlow Granger would be coming back with me. She’d unwittingly entered in a game of cat and mouse that would end with me sated and with her hurt. My mind hurt from imagining the possibilities.
I could cane her.
She hadn’t experienced proper pain yet, pain that left her in bruises for weeks, until I redid them and showed her true fear.
I could brand her. Make her branding a mark of me wherever she went. Burn her skin with my emblem and ensure she never fucking forgot whom she belonged to.
Piercings, beatings, denied and forced orgasms that drove her to absolute madness.
There were infinite possibilities.
I would find the one that hurt her the most and design a punishment that would teach her a fucking lesson.
“What are you thinking about?”
I snapped out of my thoughts, my eyes focusing on Pia across from me.
“What the fuck do you think?” I barked at her, but this time, she simply smirked back at me.
I drank the amber liquid in my glass and handed it to the stewardess. We were already in the air, and the view was breathtaking, not that either of us gave a shit. It was a trip we’d made before, and I absent-mindedly realized I hated Pia more with each one of these trips.
“I’m sure you’ll find her,” she said, a bored note to her voice. “Just like I’m sure you’ll eventually get sick of her.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I barked at her.
“I don’t?” She had the audacity to laugh at me, the little bitch. “I’ve known you for a long time, Thorn. I know more than you think.”
“You just think you do,” I corrected her. “But you’re just as clueless today as the day I met you.”
Her eyes glinted with anger, and she crossed her legs, offering me a view of her suspenders which I didn’t give a shit about. I stubbornly kept my eyes on hers, which seemed to annoy her even more and made me smile.
“She’s just a girl,” she went on. “You’ll get sick of her like you did the rest of them.”
“Never,” I growled.
“Face it,” she went on. “You got rid of them all. Every single rose, except for me. Why is that? Why do you choose to keep me around?”
I didn’t provide her with an answer. A man needs his secrets. She took it the wrong way, leaning back and giving me a triumphant smile.
“Even she realized it,” Pia went on. “I’m sure that’s why she left. She finally got it through her thick skull I was the one for you.”
Her words filled me with so much anger I wished I still had my glass so I could smash it on the table between us. Instead, I settled on leaning closer and giving her a threatening look, but she took it as a challenge.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she told me plainly. “I’ve seen you at your worst, and it’s nothing I can’t handle.”