Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
What was she doing?
Was she really turning her back on the chance to save herself? To save Domenico?
But somehow, it didn’t feel right—-
The elevator doors slid open on the 32nd floor, and her eyes widened when she saw the couple coming in. Matteo – he was alive here as well? Matteo had been Domenico’s friend, the one whose murder Domenico wanted to solve, the reason she had taken the jinn’s offer.
Behind him was Rafaella, the woman who had once turned Misty into a laughingstock among Lyccans, the princess Domenico had originally meant to marry.
They exchanged a hot passionate kiss before turning to Misty.
“Good job on saving the bastard’s face like that,” Matteo said.
Shock robbed her of speech. He was Domenico’s childhood friend in the real world. Did it mean – did it mean he had been playing a role all along?
At her stunned look, Rafaella laughed. “We saw you through the surveillance cameras, of course. Did you think only the Morettis had access to it? We would never have the balls to meet you right now if we didn’t have access to it. Everyone here can be bought. You just need to know how much they want.” She then asked eagerly, “Did you mean it about the video though?”
Misty shook her head slowly. “No. It was a bluff.”
The two were clearly disappointed. “That’s okay," he told Misty. "At least you got him to trust you. Just lay low for a week and I’ll find a way to bring up your name with Domenico.”
His hand curved around Rafaella’s waist and he licked her ear, an action that made Misty cringe inwardly. “I told you, babe. Women are his weakness. Always.”
She laughed. “I believe you now.”
The two stepped out at the thirteenth floor, which was somehow symbolic. If she had the strength to laugh, Misty would have. About to press the CLOSE button, she stopped in time when someone appeared at the hallway.
The woman stepped inside the elevator.
When the doors slid close, Misty absently looked at her companion and froze in shock.
It was the jinn.
“Y-you.” Misty rubbed her eyes, but it really was the jinn, and she hadn’t even bothered to dress herself in human clothes. Did it mean that this entire world was under her control?
“You made me laugh.”
Misty had?
“Now, I owe you a favor.”
The jinn did?
“Even if you do not win this challenge, I can tell your mate the truth you have discovered. Do you want me to tell him?”
Misty had hoped she would have another kind of reward, perhaps another option to get out of this world, but a part of her also knew it couldn’t ever be that easy. Trying to ignore the sense of crushing disappointment inside of her, Misty nodded. “I’d...like that.”
“It is done.” The jinn’s eyes studied her. “You only have...nine hours. Do you think you will win?”
Misty didn’t answer.
“You really love him?”
She nodded.
“But now, you no longer trust him?”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. I’m just not sure if...if he really did love me...or he just got used to having me around.”
When the elevator doors opened on the ground floor, Misty was all alone. Walking out of the building, the first thing she saw was a copter lifting off from the building’s own helipad. It had Moretti Inc. emblazoned on its body and she wondered numbly if Domenico was inside it. If he was—-
Nine hours.
If he was flying away, was nine hours long enough for him to realize who she was to him – and who he was to her?
She closed her eyes. I love you, Domenico. I love you.
Chapter Eight
Domenico told himself it was for the best. He repeated the words over and over in the entire four-hour journey, from the time they transferred to the family jet and flew to where they were meeting with their new business partners.
But when they made it to the airport, Domenico knew he couldn’t just let it go like that.
“Father, I can’t go with you.”
Dio stilled at the words. “Why not?”
He looked at his father. He was tired of being too stubborn, of being too proud, and being too damn stupid. “The woman you had thrown out of my suite was lying. She wasn’t there to blackmail me, and she wasn’t even drunk.”
“So the women in the bedroom—-”
Domenico said flatly, “Because you told me I’m good at fucking my brains out, that was exactly what I did.”
Dio flinched.
“I’m not blaming you for it,” he clarified swiftly when he saw his brother shoot him a frowning look. Domenico knew if he didn’t explain himself now, it would be the past all over again. “I just wanted you to know why I did it. I don’t want it to be as before – both of us saying or doing things we don’t mean.”
Dio said gruffly, “I apologize, too. I apologize for being too harsh on you. I know...I know I have never told you this, but it’s only because I’m afraid that your wild, reckless side would get you taken away from me again. When you were kidnapped – it was the worst time of my life. Remembering it made me tougher on you. I thought if I could make you more circumspect, you would never take any kind of risk...”