Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Cilla squeezes my arm, and I glance down at her. Tears shimmer at the inner corners of her eyes. “Don’t make a deal with him,” she whispers. “He’s never met a promise he didn’t plan on breaking. That’s not the words of a daughter speaking, just someone who knows him. He’ll fail to deliver and then take off, change his name, and never be heard from again. He doesn’t give a shit about our family name or lineage. He only cares about his experiments.”
Arthur raises his hands in what I believe he thinks is a placating gesture. To me, he looks bored, like a teenager confronting a parent about a curfew. Cilla is right. He doesn’t have the honor to keep his word, but I bet Adrian already realizes that. He reads people like others read books.
I pat Cilla’s hand and shake my head so she doesn’t give away anything else. Not protecting Arthur’s secrets but protecting what we might know about him. Learn about him.
Focusing back on Arthur, I watch the exchange between him and Adrian. My friend is listening, but he’s also calculating. I can see that as surely as Arthur can’t. Because I know he wants every member of Arthur’s family dead, including Arthur…he can’t possibly make a deal to protect him when he promised his wife they’d be eradicated.
Arthur holds his hand out one more time for Adrian. “Think about it. We’ll discuss.”
I take a step forward, and Cilla grabs my elbow, trying to pull me back. She doesn’t move me even an inch, of course. But the fact that she’d try pops a bubble inside my chest. Not exactly painful, but not a comfortable sensation either.
I glare down at her and shrug her off my arm. “Don’t fucking touch me like that again.”
Her eyes dart to Arthur, then to Adrian, and back to me. “I just…”
I turn, ignoring her, and focus on Arthur. “Get the fuck out, and don’t come back unless I personally escort you inside this house.”
He gives another mock nod and turns his back deliberately to wait for the elevator. My entire body is screaming at me to go after him. Push him down the stairs. Throw him out a window. Bash his brains into the side of a curb. Anything will be fine, really. As long as I don’t have to hear another word out of his mouth again.
When the sight of him is gone, the elevator closed and descending, I face Cilla again. “Don’t you dare get in my way like that again.”
I grab her chin hard, forcing her head back so she meets my eyes. I don’t give a shit if it’s uncomfortable for her. This is a lesson she’ll need to learn the hard way.
Adrian sighs beside me, then turns to leave. “I’ll give you two newlyweds some privacy.”
Then he’s gone, and it’s just us. I grip her tight enough to make her wince. “Let’s go to my suite. We need to have a little chat about the rules.”
23
CILLA
The second I opened my mouth, I knew I’d fucked up. He’s been on edge about my father since the moment we got out of the compound. Counting down the minutes until he can kill him. And seconds after we are married…married to save my ass, I keep him from doing the one thing he’s no doubt been dreaming of since the night he met me.
I try to pull my arm from his tight grip, but his hold is as iron as his will. Absolutely no give.
We get back to our suite in the penthouse, and the second the door closes, he releases my arm with a little shove.
I let him pace away, keeping my eyes on his back. Every few steps, he shifts farther and farther away from me in the room. I want to go to him, close the distance I can feel growing like a chasm between us, but I don’t. If I get near him now, he might lash out, and things might get progressively worse.
He’s not the first man I’ve met who has trouble controlling his temper. But he’s the first man I’ve met who makes an effort to try, especially when it’s at its worst.
I clear my throat loudly to get his attention. “Look, I’m sorry. That was a stupid thing to do. I know I shouldn’t have spoken my mind like that. I just…”
He rounds on me, his eyes narrowed to pinpricks of black. “You think I’m pissed because you spoke your mind? No. Fucking sass me all you want, in private. I’m pissed you did it in front of your father. If he spots a weakness, he’ll strike, and right now, the only weakness he sees in me is you.”
Ouch. I press my hand to my chest and try not to let him see how badly that stung. They only hit harder when they see how much they’ve hurt you. When they know exactly where to strike.