Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 167819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 839(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 839(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
I belong to him. Now and forever. No matter what has or will happen, I’m his wife—a Lady.
“Elli, what are you …?” My mother’s shrill scream doesn’t even make me flinch. I’ve been expecting her.
“Mother,” I say calmly, turning to face her.
Her hands are up covering her face, eyes wide as she stares at her husband hanging from the balcony. “I thought it seemed fitting,” I say, turning to look at Linc again.
Blood has dripped from the bullet wound in his arm where I shot him. Now I’m glad I missed. This is much more dramatic. I wanted to prove a point and I think this did it.
“Laura—”
“What—” she gasps, interrupting him. “What have you done?” Her wide watery eyes meet mine. “Let him down. Right now.”
“I did it.”
She spins around and her legs give out before she stumbles backwards into the round table, knocking it over and shattering the glass top on the bloody floor. “No…” She reaches up, covering her face as if that will make my father disappear.
“Hello, Laura,” he says, coming to stand next to me.
“What have you done?” my mother screams at me before looking at my father. She turns to run out of the room but comes to a quick stop when she sees Sin leaning up against the door, arms crossed over his chest. His father lies at his feet, barely conscious from the beating Sin gave him earlier at our house.
I’m surprised he’s still breathing. We loaded them both into the car and brought them over here. We had one more person we needed to take care of. One more that knows my father isn’t really dead. I wanted to see the look on her face when she realized she was caught. It did not disappoint.
“Why?” I ask, stepping toward her but my father grabs my arm, stopping me from getting too close. “Why did you do it?”
She turns to face me, makeup now smeared from her tears. They’re not sadness, or regret, it’s anger. She’s been caught. Her fate sealed. Reaching into the back pocket of her skinny jeans, she removes her cell.
I charge her, knocking my body into hers and we both go crashing to the floor. She’s screaming at me, hands slapping at my face as I’m yanked off of her. Sin wraps an arm around my waist, keeping my back to his front while my father grabs my mother.
“How could you do this?” I shout, fighting Sin to let me go. “How could you do this to us. To me?”
“To you?” She screams as my father holds her to him as well. “To you?” She repeats. “Nothing was done to you, Elli. Your father was worth more dead than alive.”
He shoves her forward and she falls to her knees. Looking up at me through her lashes, she gives me a cold smile. “You, however, were worth more alive.”
Sin let’s go of me and steps into her. “What the fuck does that mean?” He demands.
Her injected lips thin, refusing to speak and Sin wraps his hands around her throat, squeezing while lifting her to her feet.
“What the fuck did that mean?” He let’s go and she drops to her knees once more coughing, rubbing her redden neck.
“Asher Corp.”
It’s Linc who speaks, lifting his head trying to relieve the pressure of the rope wrapped around his neck.
“Shut…up.” My mother’s voice is hoarse, and she rubs her throat.
Sin walks over to the chair; he grabs the back of it acting like he’s about to push it over when Linc speaks quickly. “With Nick dead, Asher Corp needed a CEO.” He swallows, wiggling his shoulders. “Liam took it over. He requested it through the Lords and they approved. They didn’t see an issue with it since he and Nick were friends. Laura vouched for him.”
“What’s that have to do with my wife?” Sin demands.
“Laura was re-gifted to marry James. He found out that Laura had Liam kill Nicholas.” His eyes drop to look at my father still confused how he’s alive. “He threatened to go to the Lords, but Laura offered up Elli to him.”
“You bitch.” My mother gets to her feet and runs toward Lincoln, but Sin let’s go of the chair to turn and grab a hold of her before she can get to her husband.
Sin spins her around, wrapping his arm around her neck, holding her back to his front. “Keep talking Linc.” He commands, choking her out.
He licks his lips. “Laura went to Liam and told him what happened and how she gave up Elli to him. Your father wanted in on the action. So he blackmailed James, forcing him to let him have a piece of Elli. It worked for a while. But James wanted Asher Corp and your father refused to hand it over. So James threatened to go to you. Show you the videos and pictures that had proved your father had been fucking the one you were supposed to marry.”