Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
"Andreus?"
His body reacted involuntarily when Monique tried reaching for his hand, with Andreus unthinkingly flinching and stepping back. Hurt flashed over her features, but Andreus couldn't make himself feel any kind of remorse.
He would always belong to Hallie. He knew that now, and it would never change, even if this finally made her realize that she could no longer love someone like him.
"Andreus? Are you angry with me?"
"No." A monosyllabic reply for someone or anyone who was not Hallie already took too much effort, and without another word, Andreus strode past Monique and walked out of the house.
He had to think fast, and act fucking faster.
Any moment now, more and more people would see the video that Monique had been blackmailed with, and he knew in his guts that this was only the beginning.
Regardless of how Hallie would react to a video showing his teenage self sucking another man's dick, something a lot worse existed—-and it was something he didn't ever want Hallie to be involved with.
Andreus was already behind the wheel of his car when the passenger door suddenly opened, and Monique had jumped into the seat next to his.
"Please let me help you."
Impatience reared its ugly head inside of him, and Andreus barely managed to control himself from telling her to get out of his car and stop wasting his time.
"You don't have to be guilty about this," he grated out. "This isn't your fault—-"
"But it is my fault—-"
Monique's voice faltered when Andreus suddenly swore.
"I appreciate your concern," Andreus tersely expelled, "but right now, all I care about is protecting Hallie and making sure the press doesn't think she's involved with me in any way. So if you don't fucking mind—-"
"Marry me."
Andreus stared at Monique. What the fuck was she saying?
"If you marry me, the press would target me as your wife, and they won't care about Hallie." She quickly reached for his hand and held on to it before he could pull away. "Please, Andreus. Please let me do this for you. You know...you know that what I'm offering you is the best way to keep Hallie's name out of the papers." Monique's voice took on an urgent note, with her next words tumbling out in a jittery rush. "No one will ever bother her. No one will even think of her. They'll be too busy talking and writing up things about us."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Andreus knew what Monique was saying was true...but he also goddamn knew that while her solution would save the girl he loved from ruin, that same fucking solution would kill Hallie in a different way altogether.
If he took what Monique was offering, there could be no going back.
Andreus saw Monique's lip start trembling again when he firmly pulled his hand out of her hold. "Andreus, p-please—-"
"I want you to completely understand the ramifications of what you're suggesting before agreeing to anything."
Her eyes widened as the meaning of his words hit her.
"What's happening right now...is just the beginning."
"I don't care," Monique swore. "I'm ready to face everything—-"
"Even if I tell you I can't ever be a normal husband to you in any way?" His jaw clenched at the way Monique's face whitened, but Andreus didn't take the words back. Couldn't. Because that was the fucking truth, and it was a truth that would never change. "I'll always belong to Hallie—-"
"You can't be so sure of that," Monique whispered.
"I am."
Pain shadowed her eyes, but the knowledge that he was about to lose Hallie for good had numbed his heart, and the look of torment on her face did nothing to him at all.
"Can you...c-can you at least promise that you'll be faithful to me?"
"Yes." This required no thinking at all. Hallie was the only woman he was interested in, no one else.
"And that no one...n-no one will know I'm only your wife in name? W-Will you give me that at least?"
It was too fucking easy to read between the lines of what Monique was saying, and his chest tightened as he envisioned a day in the not-so-distant future and Hallie would look at him and cry. She would want an explanation that Monique's demand would forbid him to give. She would look at him like seeing him was killing her...and he had no choice but to let her go on thinking that.
Andreus squeezed his eyes shut, and the future he saw was so fucking bleak it sucked the life out of him.
I love you, Hallie.
This was the last time he would allow himself to think of her, and Andreus felt as if he had voluntarily stepped off a cliff before falling straight into an abyss of emptiness as he turned to Monique and heard himself say, "Yes."
Chapter One
Author's Note:
It's been a while since I last used a playlist, but for this very special book,
I ended up listening over and over to two favorite songs,