Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Enough, Ily.
I sighed and rubbed my teary eyes.
You’re tired and not thinking straight.
You don’t want him.
Those bubbles in your chest aren’t…feelings.
Oh God, don’t.
I clenched my teeth and begged my mind to quieten.
My twice-denied orgasm lived in my teeth and nerve-endings.
Shame came again, followed by misery.
Fear for Krish.
Horror for me.
Worry for the jewels.
It all percolated and blended until I didn’t recognise myself.
The longer I sat on Henri’s bed, the more my insides erupted with anger.
Righteous anger that flamed quickly with hate.
My hands balled as the last twenty-four hours flickered past.
Yesterday, I’d been free.
My biggest concern was breaking up with a silly little boy, and today, I was at the mercy of a darkly tangled man.
I’d agreed to play along with Henri, but nothing could hide the fact that he was the reason I was here.
Without him, I’d be back in England.
If he’d never noticed me and I’d never noticed him, I would never have been dragged into this mess. Never have his cum inside me. Never have to obey his every command so I wasn’t raped by a hundred others.
Rage funnelled hotter.
Fury I hadn’t even acknowledged unfurled in a gust of ferocity.
Sitting alone in an inescapable castle with unsatisfied lust and a betraying heart, my thoughts turned toxic.
Damn him.
Damn them.
Damn everything.
I wanted to scratch and scream and kill.
I wanted to cry and beg and run.
For the first time since I’d been brought here, I had a moment to sit in my thoughts and they pounced on me.
Screeched at me.
Scolded and sliced at me.
So much feeling.
So much fear.
I drowned.
It’s his fault.
He did this.
He used me to get inside.
He stole my life—
A soul-wrenching sob crawled up my throat.
Wedging a fist in my mouth, I bit down, willing myself to stay silent.
It’s him.
It’s all because of him.
Tears erupted and flowed.
And you think you want him?
How could you?
My cheeks rivered with sorrow. His explicit instructions not to cry echoed in my mind. Another rule. Another law. An imprisonment as much as my cuffs and collar.
I hated them.
Hated everything.
All of it.
Everyone.
I just want to go home.
Wrenching up the blankets, I shot beneath them and cowered below. I shivered as soft cotton tortured my oversensitive skin. I groaned as lightning bolts of need darted between my legs.
I sank into a cesspit of despair and rage, sorrow and fury.
I couldn’t stop crying.
He can’t see.
You know what he’ll do…
Choking on homesickness and terror, I reached for the box of tissues by a pair of pretty birdcage-shaped cufflinks on his bedside table.
My hand shook so hard, I knocked one of them off by accident.
It plummeted to the carpet, twinkling in the light.
It landed with a soft plop. Torn from its partner. All alone on the floor.
I cried harder.
Alone.
God, I felt so, so alone.
I couldn’t leave it there. Couldn’t let it feel a tenth of my pain at being ripped from where it belonged.
Gasping for breath, I went to slip out of my cocoon to claim it, but the bathroom door wrenched open, and Henri marched back in. His short dark hair stuck up as if he’d run wet hands through it. Water droplets clung to his stern jaw like ice crystals. His cheekbones seemed extra sharp. His eyes unfathomably dark.
He froze.
His gaze darted over my face, fastening on my tears.
I stiffened.
I waited for him to launch himself on me and swallow every drop.
He trembled beneath his strange proclivity for sorrow.
With a shaky breath, he stepped toward me, only…the flash of the lonely cufflink glinted on the floor.
Raw panic filled his grey gaze as he darted to the bed and dropped to one knee to snatch it. Swooping upright, he fisted the other one from the table and strangled both of them. “What the hell happened? You touched them? Fuck, do you have any idea what you could’ve done?”
Spinning on his heel, he glowered at the ceiling. “Christ, Ily.”
I wiped my cheeks with the sheet, quickly soaking up my tears to remove any shred of temptation. Once my face was dry, I tipped my chin high. “They’re just cufflinks.”
His lips twisted as he muttered a curse under his breath. His eyes darted to the corners of the room where little red dots hinted cameras watched us, even here.
Swallowing a snarl, he didn’t answer me. Stalking to the other side of the bed where a corded phone rested, he yanked up the receiver.
Was he trying to call someone?
Could it be that easy?
Not looking anywhere near me, his shoulders slouched as someone spoke to him on the other end. His hand clenched around the cufflinks. “Yes, hi. I’m hungry. Do you offer room service in this goddamn castle?”
He nodded to whatever was replied. “Good. All of it. Bring it up to my room.” Hanging up, he shoved the cufflinks into his trouser pocket, then pinched the bridge of his nose.
With a heavy sigh, he sat on the foot of the bed.