Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“How did you find me?” she asked.
I looked up at her, raising my eyebrow and then focusing back on her ankle.
“Fine. How did you find me, Father?”
That hadn’t been what I meant when I said ask nicely, but it was close enough.
“Luc. I was having an enlightening conversation with my father when my brute of a brother burst into my rooms and punched me in the face. Apparently, your sister is under the impression that I have been corrupting you.”
“Well, haven’t you been?” she said. I had to fight back a smile. She had no idea.
“Wine makes you mouthy.”
“So does being stalked.”
“Don’t be dramatic. I didn’t stalk you. I came up here to check on you since you left in a hurry and haven’t been responding to any of my messages. Do you know how worried I’ve been? I wanted to make sure you weren’t hiding any fresh bruises or cuts delivered by your mother.” The lie slipped easily from my mouth, and it took a moment for me to realize that I actually wasn’t lying at all. I really came up here not to punish her, but to make sure she was okay.
But since I had come all the way up here anyway…
“You saw me. I’m fine, you can leave.”
“No.”
“Why? Why won’t you leave me alone?” she whined. I looked up to see tears filling her eyes and, for a second, the ice around my heart cracked just a bit.
Why wouldn’t I leave her alone? Did I really still need to use her for my plan? Mary Quinn had been knocked down so many rungs of the social ladder I doubted she’d ever be able to crawl her way back up. She had paid for her crimes against me. I had taken away her leverage over my family, and by taking the rest of the blackmail material and bonds, I had essentially declawed the rabid bitch.
Still, I wasn’t satisfied. Not until she hurt, not until she knew pain and fear the same way Rose knew it.
I worked my fingers over her ankle, trying to massage out the tender parts, trying to ignore the obvious.
My reasons for attacking Mary Quinn Astrid had less and less to do with my revenge for the heinous crime she committed against me, and more for how she treated my angel.
This was not supposed to happen. I was not supposed to develop feelings for my little pet. Rose was supposed to only be a means to an end, not wiggle her way into my heart. I was supposed to corrupt her. She was not supposed to soften me.
“Tell me the real reason you came up here,” I said, needing to wipe those thoughts from my head.
“You know why,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Tell me anyway.”
She said nothing, and when I looked up at her face, she was chewing her bottom lip, her eyes cast down and to the side.
“Tell me, angel,” I said, my fingers moving up to her calf, still massaging away the tenderness.
“What you’re doing to Mother, I don’t know how you’re doing it, I don’t know what was in that safe deposit box, but it’s not—”
“Did she hit you again?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “She didn’t have the chance.”
Relief filled me, and that pissed me off. Why did I care so much? How had this girl, this sweet, naïve little girl, changed my motivations? I had planned this for over seven years.
Everything was perfect, everything was coming together and I was almost at my victory, but instead of worrying about putting the final nails into Mary Quinn’s coffin, I was sitting here rubbing the ankle of her fucking daughter.
Suddenly, I was more concerned with how Rose felt than how I was going to take down the evil bitch. This little witch stole my power, redirected my anger.
I didn’t know how Rose did it, but I needed to get my control back. I needed Rose back in her place, under me, obeying me, and complicit in her mother’s takedown. Not for her, but for me.
“Why won’t you leave me alone?” Rose asked again.
Answers flooded my mind. Because I wanted to make sure she was okay, because I needed to know she was safe, because I just wanted to be near her and I was missing her. Instead, I gave her the answer that would put her back in her place.
“Because I enjoy fucking you.”
She jerked back, her eyes wide as she tried to pull her leg from my grasp.
“You can’t say things like that,” she said.
“Why not? Little angel, it’s the truth. I like the way you moan for me, I like the way your body bends to me, and how sweetly you so willingly obey me.”
“No, you have to stop saying those things.”
“Oh, angel, there are so many things that I can say to you. I can tell you how hot and wet your sweet little cunt is. There’s absolutely nothing stopping me from telling you how much I love the way you look with your lips wrapped around my cock, and that there was no sweeter moment in my life than when I took your virgin ass.”