Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
More grunts from the bastard. That was the only thing he was now capable of. So I leaned back in my chair, not expecting an answer. I never did. That wasn’t why I was here.
I was here to watch him suffer. And watch I did.
I didn’t want an apology, didn’t even care if he acknowledged what he did to me as a child. That time had passed. Michael molded me into the man I was today.
Heartless and cold. Apathetic and uncaring. And I thought about sweet, little Persephone just thrust into the middle of all this and paying for her father’s sins.
I ran a hand over my mouth, exhaustion settling into me. I was tired, exhausted mentally and physically, but she’d etched herself into my very marrow.
I sat there long into the early morning, watching Michael struggle to breathe and enjoying every fucking minute of it.
Chapter 11
Persephone
Several weeks later
I was staring out the passenger side window when Hades came to a stop in front of the school I’d be finishing my remaining year at. The rest of the summer had passed in a blur, and I hoped the rest of the year did, too.
Although my previous school had been private and most of the students came from wealthy families, Emerson Mann Private was in a league all its own.
I’d done some research before my first day, finding out that the main student body were children of politicians, attorneys and doctors, foreign dignitaries, even some celebrities.
I could smell the money pouring off of them as their chauffeured drivers held the doors open of their luxury cars.
“Well, sweetheart?”
I turned and looked at Hades.
He rested back against the cream-colored, leather seat, one arm resting on the steering wheel lazily, and his dark sunglasses perched over his eyes. He wore a signature three-piece suit, and his short, black hair was styled in a way that looked like he’d run his fingers through it.
Once again, I hated how attractive he was and felt a flush move through my body at the remembrance of what he looked like in those gym shorts—all sweaty, hard, male flesh covered in tattoos.
Then my face grew even warmer as I remembered how he’d had me over his lap. I squeezed my thighs together as wetness settled right between my legs.
And when his smile slowly grew, I had a feeling he knew exactly where my thoughts had gone.
He reached out before I knew what he was doing and brushed a strand of my hair away. I didn’t miss how his finger lingered on my cheek a second before he pulled back, curling his fingers into a tight fist.
I was so stunned by that gentle touch I couldn’t move.
“I hope you have a fantastic fucking day, darling.” At my silence and still wide-eyed look, this satisfied expression covered his face. “Make Daddy proud.”
My face was on fire. “Stop calling yourself that.”
“Mmm,” he hummed and leaned closer. The scent of his cologne was so good. Too good. “Does that make you uncomfortable?”
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and glanced to the side to watch as he ran his thumb back and forth over the leather of the steering wheel. So slowly. Suggestively. When I focused back on him, it was to see him smirking.
“No.” I sniffed in indignation and lifted my head. “It’s just weird. You’re practically an old man.” That was a lie, of course. Hades wasn’t old. But compared to me? Hell, he was two decades my senior. And that should have had any kind of attraction I felt toward him shriveling up and dying a slow death.
“An old man, Bunny?” He chuckled again and ran his palm over his jaw. I assumed he didn’t shave this morning as he had a dark shadow of scruff covering his cheeks and chin. “You and I both know that’s not at all true.”
“And stop calling me those things.” I saw a dark eyebrow lift over his sunglasses.
“And what things are those, Bunny?”
“Sweetheart. Princess… Fucking Bunny.” I snorted and shook my head. “That last one is the worst, by the way. I don’t even know what it’s supposed to mean.”
He was silent for a long moment before he responded. “You’re just so soft-looking, so little and vulnerable. I feel like the big bad wolf wanting to devour you.” His grin reminded me of a shark. “I just want to pet you, Persephone. See if you’re soft and sweet on the outside, as I know you’ll be on the inside.”
The way he said that was so suggestive. I felt my pulse beat between my thighs.
My body was so damn traitorous.
“You’re a sick bastard,” I hissed and got out of the car, slamming the door as hard as I could, but not before I heard him laugh.
I didn’t look to see how long he sat there. I just entered through the front doors, not sure where the hell I was supposed to go but knowing I needed to get away from Hades. But I could still smell him, that rich cologne he wore that did funny things to me.