Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Regent. Poisoned.
“He’s all right. Charlotte, Regent is all right. He’s alive.”
“A-alive?”
“Yes, baby girl. He’s alive. Fucked up. But alive. Victor got him help quickly, but he’s going to be fine.”
“Oh, God. Oh, God.” She burst into tears. Nico held her close, rubbing her back until she managed to calm down.
Someone had poisoned her brother.
“We need to go. I need to see him.” She tried to scramble off Nico’s lap.
“We can’t do that, baby,” Liam said to her.
“What? Why?” she asked. “I want to see him. Is he in the hospital?”
“He’s already discharged himself,” Liam told her. “But he doesn’t want you there.”
It was like a blow to her heart.
“For your own safety,” Liam told her quickly. “They know who did it, but they don’t know who she’s working with yet.”
“Sh-she?”
“Alice, the maid. She gave Regent the tea. Prepared it herself.”
“Oh my God. I can’t believe she’d do that.”
“She was always weird,” Nico said.
“I’m going to call Peter,” Liam said. “Get him to give me updates.”
“Why would you call Peter?” she asked, confused and unsure why they’d want to speak to one of Regent’s guards.
Then she noticed that both of them had strange looks on their faces.
“What?”
“Peter actually works for me,” Liam confessed.
“He what?”
“Yeah, I paid him to keep watch over you.”
“You what?” Her mind spun.
“How mad are you?” Nico asked. “He didn’t give us day-by-day updates or anything. Just kept watch over you for us and told us if anything major happened.”
It was an invasion of privacy. But it wasn’t like there had ever been much to report.
“You should have told me.”
“It just slipped our minds,” Liam told her, watching her closely.
“Regent is going to kill you.”
“Which is why I vote that we don’t tell him. Who’s with me?” Nico held up his hand and they both stared at him.
“Actually, that’s probably for the best,” she added. “Is he going to stay working for Regent?”
“I told him that he no longer has to stay now that you’re here with us, but he likes working for your brother.”
“Are you sure I can’t see him?” she cried. It didn’t feel right to be so far away from him.
“Once it’s safe, I’ll take you back to see him. I promise.”
“He’s really all right?” she asked.
“Really. I promise.”
She shuddered, leaning back against Nico. “I think I’d like that snuggle and movie now.”
“Coming right up, pretty girl.”
“Whatever you need.”
“Hey, you’re painting?” Nico asked as he walked into the room that she’d taken over as her studio.
After two weeks of not being able to paint, she’d suddenly had the urge to start painting again that morning. It might have been something to do with the fact that they’d finally moved forward in their relationship yesterday. It was cleansing in a way. A new start. A push forward.
She was still worried about Regent, but she’d spoken to him briefly last night and he’d told her that it was a good thing Alice had made a move. They finally had the rat, and they’d discovered who she worked for. Patrick. His rival. He’d wanted Regent’s territory and had been using Alice’s intel to work against him.
Regent was pissed. She just hoped that there wasn’t too much blood shed. Regent had assured her time and again that he could look after himself.
She didn’t want to think too closely about how they would do that.
She put the paintbrush down. “Would you like to see?”
His eyebrows rose. “Really?”
“Yeah. But remember, I’m not trained or anything.”
“I don’t care. Yeah, I want to see.” Nico practically ran forward then came to a stop, breathing in sharply.
“Well?”
“Lottie, it’s amazing.”
“Do you think so?” she asked.
This painting was of Liam. He had his arms crossed, a stern look on his face, but there was something in his eyes that said he was amused.
“Fuck. I fucking love it. Oh my God. We have to hang it up. We have to show him.”
“Not until it’s finished. Please?”
Nico just nodded. “Okay, but fuck, Lottie. With talent like yours, you should be sharing it.”
“You really think it’s that good?”
“I do.” He came over and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I think it’s amazing, just like you.” He kissed up her neck. She shivered and turned in his arms, tilting her head back for a kiss.
“You know, I think you’re amazing too. You write your own songs, don’t you?”
He gave her a quizzical look.
“I’ve heard you in the shower,” she confessed.
“Lots of people can sing.”
“Not like you do.”
“Damn, pretty girl,” he groaned before kissing her. “Fuck me.”
“All right,” she agreed with a grin.
He moaned. “We’ve created a monster. I want to fuck you so bad.”
“So why don’t you?”
“Because Liam told me that if I fucked you while he was gone then I wouldn’t get to touch your pussy for a whole month.”
She pouted. Liam had gone into work. She’d been hoping for some fun one-on-one time with Nico.