Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
But not anymore, Serenity told herself.
She deserved to live. She deserved to be happy. She deserved to love.
And given the chance, she would like to enjoy all three with Willem de Konigh.
“WHAT IS THIS?” A MUSCLE began ticking in his jaw. Willem had a feeling he wouldn’t like whatever Serenity’s answer was.
And he was right.
“My resignation, Mr. de Konigh.”
He slowly put the piece of paper down, leaving it unread. He raised his gaze to meet hers and found Serenity gazing back at him with her clear blue eyes. Only this time, it was really more blank than clear.
As blank as her eyes were the day they first met, Willem realized grimly. He asked abruptly, “What the hell is this about?”
She wondered what the billionaire would say if she blurted out the truth.
This, Mr. de Konigh, is five years in the making.
This, Mr. de Konigh, is about you making me fall in love with you.
This, Mr. de Konigh, is about me wanting you to fall in love with me, too.
But in the end, she lost courage and, looking away from the billionaire’s narrowed gaze, mumbled, “I’m, err, hoping it would be effective to—-” His fist slammed against his desk, and she flinched.
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about!”
Willem hadn’t shouted, but she wished he had. Having known him for so long, she was aware of how so much more furious he was when using that deadly soft voice of his.
It almost made her back down - almost made her start lying again – but she managed not to. She remembered what Willow had done for her Greek billionaire and she told herself that she could do the same thing, too, for her Dutch billionaire.
Take the leap, she whispered to herself. She had to take the leap if she really believed she deserved to live, to be happy – if she really believed she deserved to love.
“Sere?”
Her heart broke a little at Willem’s use of her nickname. Swallowing, she asked tremulously, “D-do you really want to know the reason?”
“Do I really have to answer that?” Willem’s voice was even softer now, and she trembled at the realization of how angry he was.
Please God.
Please let his anger simply be his fear of losing me.
Serenity took quick, shallow breaths. “T-then...I need you to stand up.”
Willem’s eyebrows shot up. What the hell was she saying? But when his nineteen-year-old intern only looked at him, he swore under his breath even as he rose to his feet. “Now what?” he snapped.
“C-come here.”
What the hell was this girl playing at? But he was already stalking towards her and only stopped when he was a hair’s breadth away from Serenity. This close, he could easily smell the sweet, fresh fragrance of her shampoo, could see how fast her chest was rising and falling rapidly. This close, his cock was going insane inside his pants, like it had never been this near to a pussy before.
What the hell was happening?
He opened his mouth to demand it out loud, but he was unable to say a word because at that exact moment, Serenity had chosen to throw herself at him and kissed Willem full in the mouth.
Closing her eyes, Serenity kissed Willem with all the love she had kept bottled up inside her for five long years.
She kissed and kissed him, but eventually, she was unable to hide from the truth.
His lips remained stiff under hers, cold and unmoving.
Tears streaked down her face, but she didn’t allow herself to give up. She kissed him harder. She kissed him more desperately. She kissed him pleadingly.
But nothing happened.
Serenity’s arms fell limply to her side.
Slowly, she pulled away. “Please,” she whispered. “Please tell me you’re...you’re just pretending? You’re just controlling yourself?”
Instead of answering, he said quietly, “Your resignation’s accepted.”
Book Two
Prologue
TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO
Eleven-year-old Willem de Konigh’s backside stung painfully. He had a humiliatingly childish urge to cry, but he struggled to deny it. He fought hard to keep his gaze steady, his face expressionless.
Behind him, his father grunted, and Willem stiffened in preparation.
But it still took him by surprise.
It always did, the feel of the buckle of his father’s belt slamming hard, latching onto his skin, and his fists clenched tightly against his side.
It lasted for another seven minutes – he had counted it by the second to distract himself from the pain – before Willem heard his father sigh in satisfaction.
It was over.
But he remained still on his feet, knowing that it could be a trick. The one time he had tried to leave right away, thinking the silence meant his father had succumbed to a drunken stupor, Edgar had beaten him to an inch of his life, and Willem had to ask for a week’s absence from school.
He had made sure not to repeat the mistake after that.
The seconds ticked by. Willem dimly thought that his backside might be bleeding. If it were, then he would have to wash the stains off his pants himself. Edgar would be furious if any of the staff found out about his beatings.