Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“He’s not.” My voice was firm. “If Wolf wanted him dead, he wouldn’t have given him CPR and saved him that night. He’s looking forward to the millions he can collect on the last Wilson heir. I don’t know why he hasn’t made his move yet. Maybe he’s waiting until the heat dies down.” I dropped my head on my knees. “I don’t understand how we got here, Adonis. Everything went so wrong, so fast.”
“It did, and it’s awful that it took everything going wrong for my folks to set one thing right. Victor isn’t the sole heir anymore,” he said, tipping my chin to face him. “They’ve accepted me back into the family. Restored my trust fund and inheritance. They also... apologized.
“Said they didn’t know what possessed them to do something so horrible to me. They love me and my choice to get married or not. Have children or not. Is my choice,” he said. “They’ll support and be there for me like they should’ve done when I got the genetic test results back.”
“That’s great, baby.” I wanted so badly to kiss him. “You deserved to hear that and more for so long. I’m happy you finally did.”
“No.” Adonis sucked in a ragged breath. “I hate that they’re saying all of this to me. It’s the kind of thing you do when you believe you’ve lost one child, so you’re holding tighter to the other one. I said to you once that humans learn their lessons too late.
“Tragedy shouldn’t be what brings us together. I’d just as well stay exiled and my parents remain arrogant and status-obsessed if it meant they still had hope Victor was coming home.”
“He is coming home.”
A car horn honked, turning my attention to the top of the beach, where a figure appeared on the horizon.
“He’s coming home, and when he does, his family will be together again. It’s the best gift you guys can give him.”
Adonis flicked to where I was looking. “It’s time. I’ll leave you alone.”
“I love you,” I said softly. “I’m sorry I gave up, even if it was for a short time.”
“You never have to apologize to me. It’s not right that this was all on your shoulders. But you have help now. You’ll have them,” he said, “and you have me because I love you too.”
I rose as Adonis left, leaving me the one, two— six people who trudged down the bank, arriving to line up before me. I said nothing since more were coming behind them—parking a range of Lexus and Ferraris to Fords and Toyotas, where concrete began to give way to beach.
I counted as they arrived. “Forty-one... Forty-two... Forty-three...” I breathed. “Forty-four.”
Forty-four. Forty-four people received my summons and all of them showed up. Who could blame them? Who wouldn’t be intrigued if they read the email I sent?
“Hello, everyone,” I called.
They just looked at me. No one spoke.
“I won’t waste any time,” I began. “If you’ve been following the news, you know there’s no time to waste. If you’ve been listening to the whispers in the underground, you know why.” I dropped it with no more preamble. “The leader of the Rogues, Alistair Burkhardt, is dead. He was killed by Everleigh Starling.
“Alistair kept a laptop with the names, locations, and rackets of every Rogue everywhere—in the country and out. He also,” I said, scanning the crowd, “kept a file on future Rogues. The children being groomed to take over the family legacy.
“He kept a file on all of you.”
Iris rolled her eyes. “Yeah, so what? Think you’re going to use that to put us under your thumb like Daddy did to our folks? That why you brought us out here?”
“No. I brought you out here to tell you the good news. Your folks are free. I wiped every trace of them from the laptop. I’m dissolving whatever stake Alistair has in their business. I’m closing and refunding the accounts they had to deposit money into. I’m shutting down the Rogues.”
Disbelief rippled through the crowd and bitter faces disappeared in their wake. They weren’t expecting that.
Dean stepped forward out of the pack. Looking at him was night and day to the guy I met before. A bold, confident swagger slowed his steps, as slow as the rugged smirk that spread across his lips, and brought a sudden blush to my cheeks. The air around him bent with a dark energy that I was clearly helpless to—if all the men I loved were anything to go by.
“Why would you do that, Luna?” His tongue caressed my name, staining my face with heat. “Free us from your leash.” He licked his lips, winking. “Put down your whip.”
“I don’t have whips or leashes.” How the hell did the conversation take this turn? “I don’t want them either. An organization filled with people who can’t choose between loving or hating me is how I’d become a billionaire recluse, living on a floating bunker in the middle of the ocean.