Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Fear coiled in every part of my body, and he hadn’t even hurt me—at least, not yet.
I’d never felt as vulnerable as I did at this moment. When he smirked, I felt something tingle and move through me—something very much inappropriate considering the circumstances. His immense body cast an imposing shadow across the room, and even with the distance between us, I felt the raw, dangerous energy radiating off of him and surrounding me.
“Sit there.” He gestured for me to sit on the edge of the bed, and there was no way I was going to fight his command. His dominance was undeniable.
When I sat on the edge, I clutched the comforter as if it would protect me or maybe be my anchor.
“I’ll just be blunt because there’s no fucking point in me trying to calm your nerves.” He stared down at me, his enormous arms crossed over his chest and making his biceps look even more massive.
I didn't respond. I just sat there like a good, little captive who wanted to live and listened to what he said.
“I’m Kane Richter, and I need a place to lie low where no one will think to look for me. Lucky for me, I found you.”
I glanced around my small, candlelit room. “Here?” The lone word came out strained but soft.
“That’s right.” He smirked again, but it held no amusement. It was purely sinister. His voice was a low growl when he asked, “What’s your name?”
I swallowed hard, trying like hell to piece together the reality of my fucked-up situation. He noticed me checking out his prison garb, and a dangerous sound left him. Keeping my name from him was pointless because he probably already knew what it was. He likely went through my shit downstairs while I was in the shower, just as he had my clothes.
“Evelina,” I finally said, giving him what he wanted.
He was a criminal, and now he was here, using me—well, my home—as his refuge. My heart thudded wildly in my chest as he took a step closer, his laser-like gaze unrelenting.
“W-What did you do to get locked up?” The words spilled out of me before I could filter them. I felt my eyes widen, heard my voice tremble despite my best effort to sound strong.
His eyes glinted with something cold and dark as he stared right into mine, maybe thinking about how to answer… or which way to kill me.
And then he sobered, any small expression on his face disappearing so all that showed was indifference.
“They say I’m a psychopath,” he said, his tone flat and cold. He spoke as if he were commenting on the weather.
The sane and rational part of me said he was full of shit. Because who would admit to that?
“I kill, little girl. And I fucking like it. It gets me off.”
I gasped and squeezed the comforter so tightly my knuckles popped. Something in that explanation, the words and how he said them, made me instantly believe him, putting my former doubt to rest. And the more he went on, the more I understood he spoke nothing but the truth.
“There’s something about the way fear looks in a person’s eyes and the way their blood stains my hands as they’re dying. It’s my obsession.”
I instinctively lifted my legs and moved backward on the bed, wanting as much space between us as possible. Not that it would make a difference because the weight of what he told me dropped onto me like an anvil, crushing me.
He took a step closer, his movements slow and deliberate. His violent and dangerous aura swallowed me whole.
He was a foot from the mattress, and all I could see, hear, and smell was this stranger who was crowding my space.
“And here’s the thing,” he murmured, his voice a growl that made my stomach twist with terror… and something else. “If you’re a good girl, if you listen and do what I say without a fight… then maybe—just maybe—I’ll let you live.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until I tasted the salt on my lips, and my breath hitched. His unwavering stare bore into my flinching one, and in that moment, I realized the most terrifying thing out of this whole situation.
He was feeding off my fear right now.
And as I lowered my gaze, his massive erection proved he was getting sadistic pleasure out of all of this.
“You’re going to let me stay here until the heat dies down,” he ordered. “Once I’m sure the authorities are off my tail and the hunt has moved on to somewhere else, I’ll leave.”
I heard his unspoken words: “If I feel like it.”
My mouth was dry, and my muscles seemed to be permanently contracted in horror and anxiety. “And if I refuse?” I whispered before I could stop myself.
He chuckled, a dark, humorless sound that left me feeling like he whipped it across my body. “You won’t refuse.” He said so coldly there was no doubt he believed—and I knew—it was the absolute truth.