Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 94024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
He smirked. “Your dad really did sew a fantastic costume that Halloween.”
“Phoenix!” I clenched my fists, ready to punch him regardless of the fact that he would kick my ass later for touching him.
He was untouchable.
He was Nicolasi.
And me? I was only an heir.
So, punching him would mean minutes in the ring and possibly another missing tooth. Not that it mattered anymore, because nothing mattered, did it? I’d lost Claire, and I’d lost Violet without even realizing it.
I was used to losing.
Everything that mattered.
Even my sanity.
So why not a molar?
They could add it to the collection.
I definitely wanted to punch something, but there was nothing nearby, only him. Shit, I would kill for a tree to shoot.
“So, that’s it?” I threw my hands up in the air. “I just keep this secret from my entire family.”
“They’ll know soon,” he said. “But I think we need to focus on the funeral before we try to solve the problem that is Violet Petrov.”
My fingers curled into fists. The name alone had me seeing red.
She was married.
To a monster probably.
To someone who didn’t know what she needed and how she needed it.
“It should have been Breaker,” I said in a harsh whisper. “As much shit as I gave him for sleeping with her—”
Phoenix’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, keep going. I’m curious how he imagined they could get out of the whole, we will kill you for hooking up rule…”
I gulped. “She loved him.”
“Her love wasn’t enough,” Phoenix said gruffly. “Not so soon after Serena and Junior, not with Chase. No, their love, it would not have been enough, Ash, you need to know that.”
“My dad can be… complicated,” I admitted.
“Ash, your dad would have killed him in cold blood for touching her after being her personal guard for that long. Everything we do in this Family, the secrets we deal in, the lies, the end goal is always to protect you, and sometimes that means even from yourselves.” He patted me on the shoulder and looked up at the stars. “Make a wish, Ash, Violet will need you when she comes back. She’ll need all of us.”
“Because of the monster she married?”
He shot me an unreadable look. “Because of the person the monster had to become in order to keep her love, in order to be worthy of it.”
And with that cryptic message, he left.
I dragged my ass back to the pool house, grabbed a bottle of Jack, and did what I did every night.
I grabbed my favorite picture of Claire, and I talked to her until I passed out.
On some nights, she talked back.
Tonight.
She was silent.
And all I heard in my nightmares were the sounds of screeching tires, metal on metal. All I saw was Breaker’s face.
And all I felt was numb.
Chapter Nineteen
I would take the lies from her lips, would die for that final kiss, I would lose again so that the love of my life could finally win. —Valerian Petrov
Violet
I slept the day away—but I did eat.
And I stared down the clock like it was going to explode when it finally struck ten. When my villain would once again visit.
It was day two.
Day one had left me in a confused haze of aftershocks that had my body primed and ready even though my heart and head were one hundred percent against it.
He made me feel.
He took his time.
My brain told me that we should at least give him points for trying, for not just taking me, but trying to give something back.
My heart beat for Breaker, though.
My body, however, was starting to warm toward Valerian.
I still didn’t want to face him, to take off the mask, both of our masks. I was so thankful for the blindfold that I’d willingly put it on the minute the clock struck ten.
My door creaked open.
“Say something, so I don’t think I’m about to get murdered,” I blurted.
His laugh was deep, sexy. “Look at you, already sitting on the bed, ready for me to torture you in the best sort of way.”
“How are you going to win me over tonight, husband?” I taunted him and liked the tension that spiked in the room.
“Hmmmm…” He was walking toward me, and while my heart was bruised and broken, I found the darkness lifting a bit as his hands found my shoulders.
He leaned over and kissed each of my cheeks. “I brought you food.”
“I’ve been eating.”
“Not this, you haven’t…” He was close.
I could almost taste his lips, the familiar full lips that felt so much like Breaker’s, and to an insane person like myself, I could almost believe it was Breaker. And like someone who’d finally lost it—I did. I pretended it was him, I pretended he was back, he was holding the blindfold, giving me pleasure.
“Open.”
I frowned but did as he said, parting my lips slightly as he put something inside my mouth.