Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 35602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Xavier nods.
I'm led into another room, where two nurses helped me get out of my clothes. Some of them have to be cut off since they're so thick with smoke, ash and even blood. For the first time since I was recaptured, I allow myself to wonder what happened to Ivette. Whether she got to run away or whether she was caught on her way out. I force myself to believe that she got away, that she's somewhere on the way to her children right now, and there's no one going after her. If I didn't get my own happy ending, at least Ivette deserves hers.
It takes about an hour for the doc to put the cast on me and for it to dry enough for me to be able to go back outside. Finally, I get a better chance to see my surroundings, and I'm enchanted by the beautiful house I found myself in. It has a large swimming pool in the back with an infinity edge overlooking the vibrant city beneath us. We must be high up in the hills, which I realized while we were in the car and driving uphill.
Xavier is nowhere to be found, but one of the guards leads me to a bedroom that's perfect and almost suspiciously beautiful in the way it's put together. I'm starting to think there's a trick to all of this. Maybe Xavier is just waiting for my arm to heal before he attacks me in full force.
I know there is no way for me to escape my punishment for much longer. I know eventually he's going to hurt me and show me all the things he went through when I was missing. There is no other way for me to repay him for everything I've done, other than to feel the pain he's felt for these past few months without me. I know a punishment is coming and my body is going crazy, wishing him to be near me and show me everything that I've missed since I've been away from him. But it doesn't come.
Day turns into night and Xavier is nowhere to be seen. I'm given some food and left to rest in my bedroom. There are a few guards here that stay behind with us, while the rest drive back. I don't know what to think.
I don't know when my punishment is coming, but deep down I'm certain that it will. There's no way Xavier would forego that. No way he'd let himself forget everything that I've done to him.
I suppose I'll just have to wait until my arm heals and once it does...
Well, I can only hope to make it out of this predicament alive.
Chapter 13
By the time I make it to her room, it's already nightfall. It's too late for me to think of anything other than bringing Tallulah to the justice she deserved by punishing me for loving her in the first place. She ran away for so long, she managed to stay away for so long. But now it's finally my time to punish her.
I stand at the entrance leading into her bedroom, watching her tossing and turning in her bed. She's probably wondering where I am, and when I'm finally going to bring down my punishing hand on her. She suddenly sits up in bed, her eyes seeking me out. She makes out my shape and the shadows of her door frame.
"Is it going to happen now?" she asks, her voice devoid of fear, but still laden with emotion. "Are you going to punish me now?"
"That I'm right, I am, angel," I say darkly. "We've waited long enough. We've stretched this out for too long enough. It's time for you to pay for everything you've done to me. Get out of the bed."
Not even fighting back, she forces her legs out of the bed and I can see she's shaking and trembling as she slowly makes her way to the center of the room. She was sleeping in an old T-shirt of mine, which only pisses me off more. Whichever one of my guards gave her my clothes to wear has another thing coming. Because I don't like the sight of her with my things. Not anymore. Not after everything that's happened.
I circle her like a predator, watching as goosebumps form all over her skin and the hairs stand up on her arms.
"Are you going to apologize? It would be a good start," I bark out, eager to hear the word sorry leaving her lips.
But she stays motionless, no words leaving her mouth as she stares at the ground. A dark blush colors her cheeks, and I know she knows what's coming. And yet she doesn't apologize, even though she probably knows it would lessen her punishment, if I saw she was actually sorry for everything she did. Maybe I would go easy on her. But now that she denied me the simple pleasure of hearing her say sorry, I'm not going to have any mercy on her.