Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 91064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“And let me guess what you get out of it,” I scoff.
Alexander’s jaw ticks again. His eyes are bottomless pits and he is vacant. There is nothing inside of him but darkness and I want to scream at him because he infected me with it too.
“You destroyed me,” he says. “You were mine, Scarlett. MINE.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke?” I ask. “Because you didn’t see it that way when you let all of your buddies have a go at me.”
He shrugs it off, and he’s back to casual again. Unruffled.
“Give me a fucking break,” he says. “You knew there were sacrifices to be made. I only did what needed to be done. And it worked. I got into the Praetorians and you got into Birds of a Feather. And had you stayed the fucking course like you were supposed to, you’d be a Harvard grad by now with a belly full of my first child. Instead, you’re nothing more than a common street whore.”
He gets up and paces as he rants, and he’s even more fucking deluded than I ever could have imagined.
“Surely you don’t think I’m still going to have a life with you.”
He pauses, a slick smile spreading across his lips.
“What I think,” he answers. “Is that you’re going to do whatever I tell you to. Because what other option do you have?”
There is no argument to be had. He’s a federal fucking agent. Which I don’t doubt for a second was not a strategic move on his part. He’s been planning this for years. A decade, even. And there is nothing I can do right now but get out of here and figure out my options.
“How did you know?” I ask.
He’s quiet for a moment, thoughtful. Unsure how much he wants to reveal. But I need to understand his motives before I can plan a counterattack.
“I went back,” he says. “A few days later. I couldn’t…”
His voice is softer now, and for a second he almost seems human again.
“I couldn’t think of you lying there like that. In that pile of leaves and dirt while the animals picked over you.”
“Then I guess you shouldn’t have left me there.”
The mask falls back over his face and his eyes are blank when they meet mine again. “The boys and I agreed, for our own protection, that you needed to be buried. But you weren’t there.”
I grind my toes into the carpet to calm my nerves. If they knew I was alive, then there’s a good chance they’ve been preparing for my return.
“I couldn’t tell them,” Alexander answers my unspoken thought. “I wanted to keep it to myself. Just the idea that you were out there somewhere… I liked that. So, I told them that I buried you. And nobody would ever find you again.”
“Except for you,” I whisper.
“Except for me,” he agrees.
“Tell me what you want.”
“Despite what I said earlier, I do want you to come out of hiding. To reveal to the world that Tenly Albright is not dead, but alive and well. And you will do it on my arm. As my fiancé. We’ll hire a publicist to spin the story. We will make all of this go away.”
He makes a gesture with his arm as if to encompass the entire city of Boston. And it all makes sense now. His insane request. This pathetic attempt at a reunion. His stalking me and his blackmail and the dying ember of hope in his eyes.
He isn’t here to redeem himself.
He thinks I am his redemption.
“You want back in,” I murmur.
And then I laugh. I laugh too hard because it’s so fucking pathetic, and I can’t help myself and he’s angry and I really need to stop… but what the actual fuck?
“You think this will win them back over,” I say. “Because of what your father did. You are an outcast. You’ve been an outcast for all these years and you are still trying to worm your way back in?”
“Fuck you,” he spits. “You have no idea what happened because you couldn’t hack that world. You ran off and fucked me up in the head and abandoned everyone who ever cared about you.”
“And now you want to ride my coattails on the way back in. Using the Albright name and the publicity to polish your shiny new reputation.”
He lunges at me again, and it’s not pretty, his rage. He yanks my hair and shoves my head back and squeezes my face in his hand. And I can see it now. That he would crush me if he could. If he wasn’t planning to use my name as his way back in, he would do it right this time.
I would stay dead.
“I will tell you how it’s going to be, you little bitch. You’re going to earn this small mercy from me, and you’re going to do it on your hands and knees. You will be my wife, or you will die. Those are your only options.”