Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
He holds my stare, the depth of his gaze penetrating right through my chest. “Does it scare you?”
I nod, my whole body shaking with the realization. “It terrifies me.”
“I wish to care for you, Chiara. I know this probably isn’t the life you envisioned for yourself. It is a life filled with horrors you can’t even begin to imagine, where bloodshed is power, and power is sought by those undeserving of it. Yet despite my position and the life I lead, I find myself mesmerized by you. I’m incapable of leaving you alone.”
Leaning forward, I gently brush my lips across his. “I don’t want you to.”
“I know, but these feelings you have are based on an idea of who you think I am, and I so desperately wish I could be the man you hope me to be, but you don’t truly understand what a monster I can be.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me,” I insist, knowing it with every fiber of my soul.
“While that may be true, that doesn’t mean you are capable of stomaching my true nature. I am callous, Chiara. The weight of my men’s lives rests on my shoulders, and the things that I am capable of when those lives are at risk are worse than any nightmare you may have. The men who put you in that cage to sell you to the highest bidder are children in comparison.”
I swallow hard, understanding what he’s saying. I knew it from the moment he stepped out of the shadows at the auctions. I knew the power he possessed and the way every other man in that room shied away from him was a clear indicator that he wasn’t someone who should be messed with.
He’s the devil in a three-piece suit, but even the devil needs love too.
“And if I’m already falling for you?”
“Then you better hope like hell you’re strong enough to handle the demands of this life,” he says, leaning in and scooping me into his strong arms. He rises to his full height as I curl into the safety of his arms, resting my head against his wide chest. “You might only be my wife to the outside world, but for me, the moment those words fell from my lips, it felt right. I brought you here hoping that you would have my child, but I am not opposed to having something more with you, something real, Chiara.”
“I don’t get the feeling your family is too thrilled about this.”
“My family will quickly learn their places. I won’t lie to you, Angel. There will be backlash coming my way. I killed a senior member of my family the night of the gala,” he tells me, and I nod, having heard the gunshot from my room. “However, I will protect you, even if it means protecting you from myself.”
“You’re a good man, Killian,” I tell him. “I don’t know if you realize that. Your life is clouded by darkness, and I’m not foolish enough to assume the things you’ve witnessed and experienced haven’t left scars, but I believe there’s still a good heart in there.”
He nods and the way he shifts his stare away from mine suggests he doesn’t believe me, but if I have to prove it to him, I will, even if it’s the last thing I do.
Killian continues walking until I’m finally offered my freedom from the maze, and the second we’re out, a deep relief pounds through my veins. I know it’s irrational, but a part of me had started to wonder if I was going to spend the rest of my life on that little garden bench.
He makes his way inside, not stopping to put me down until we’re in the den. He lowers me down on the couch, and I sink right into it. A part of me flutters, realizing he knows which is my favorite couch in the whole estate despite never having mentioned it before, and when he drops down beside me, the flutter intensifies. “It’s been four days, Chiara. Nobody has been named responsible for the attack on you in the ladies’ room. It’s time. I need to know who did this to you.”
A heaviness seeps into my veins, pulsing through my body and weighing me down, and just as I consider coming clean and giving him what he needs, Sergiu’s terrifying threat sounds through my head—If I find out that you’ve even whispered about this, I’ll come back here every fucking night, and what happened in here today will seem like child’s play in comparison. And if you even think about offering him a DeLorenzo heir, I will tear your baby right out of your womb.
Sergiu’s threat is a million times worse than anything Monica could ever do to me, and yet, I feel they come hand in hand. If I cross her, Sergiu comes for me either way.