Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
“Oh.” I laugh bitterly. “What a shock? When you give a girl to a stranger and have them take her away, you honestly believe she’s going to be safe?”
“I did the best I could at the time,” he growls. “I thought you would get to begin a new life. I didn’t know...”
“Don’t fucking lie to me. You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool me. I’m not going to let you get away with this, I’m here to make sure you go down—”
He moves quickly, like a bolt of lightning coming directly for me. His hand closes around my throat and he hauls me up into the air like I weigh nothing. I don’t struggle, I don’t scream, god, he doesn’t even begin to scare me. Instead, I smile, even though my vision is starting to get blotchy and my head feels like it’s filling with blood so fast it makes me want to shake it. I smile in a way that I know is evil, and sadistic, and I don’t have a god damned care in the world.
“What are you going to do, Cohen? Kill me? Right here in the club?”
He drops me to the floor like a rag doll, and I stumble, tripping until I fall on my bottom. I look up at him, never losing the smile. “Is that the best you’ve got?”
“What the fuck do you want?” he roars, slamming his fist into the bar. “Why the fuck are you here?”
“You know exactly why I’m here.”
His jaw tightens, and he gives me a glare that’s so terrifying, even I pause ... not for long, though.
“I don’t have anything you want. Those documents were a load of fuckin’ nothin’. That money is long gone. I sent you away. I did that because I had to.”
“You had to?” I ask, standing and taking a step closer. “You had to send me away to a bunch of fucking people that were to make sure I never fucking came back? I was a god damned girl, I had no chance, no hope. You plunged me into hell, but you didn’t think I’d find a way out. What sort of god damned monster are you? How have you lived with yourself all these years, knowing you are the reason I’m fucking broken?”
He flinches. “I did what I had to do. You were too deeply involved, even if you didn’t know it. I was protectin’ you. Did what needed to be done. If King ever found out ...”
“That you killed my entire family?” I bark. “And for what? What did you need to die with them, Cohen?”
His eyes flash. “What do you want? Money? You want me to fuckin’ pay you out? I’ll do it. Just get the fuck out of here and stay away from the club.”
“I want what I deserve,” I seethe. “I want vengeance.”
He steps forward and leans down close. “I made you disappear once, Aviana, I’ll do it again. I will not let any harm come to this club.”
I grin, big and savage. “Try it.”
His jaw ticks, his eyes flash with rage, and he steps back. “Get the fuck out of here.”
I walk to the bar, taking his beer off the counter. I take a long sip and give him a slow, sensual smile. “I think I might go and join the party.”
Then, with a sway to my hips and a fire in my soul, I walk outside.
He’s not scaring me away that quickly.
Oh, no no no.
I’m here to stay.
“WHERE WERE YOU?” BRIELLA asks later that night, as she makes up a bed in her spare room for me to stay.
“I was with family,” I lie.
“All this time?” she asks, pausing, sheet in hand. “You never called, never text?”
“I was broken,” I tell her, meeting her gaze. “My whole life had been tipped upside down. I needed to get away. I did all I knew how at the time. Surely you can understand that. It wasn’t personal, Briella, it was survival.”
She gives me a sad look. “Yeah, I know. But ... we were best friends. I thought for so long you were dead.”
I wished I were.
God, so many times I wished I were.
“You should know I’m not that easy to take down.” I grin.
She laughs, but then her face grows serious as she whispers, “I was scared, Avi. You have no idea how many times I’ve thought of you over the last few years. Wondering where you are, especially when we found out about Peter’s involvement in everything. I was sure you’d been sold, or worse. Even though they assured me they had found you, and you were safe, something didn’t feel quite right.”
She would be correct in assuming that, because something definitely wasn’t quite right. I was stuck in a god damned world I couldn’t get away from. My god, they have no idea. If it wasn’t for sheer strength and determination, I wouldn’t be here today. Hell, I probably would have been sold or worse. I’m here because I fought, and continue to fight, I will.