Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 72756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
He and his guards lead the way, driving over to the estate as we follow. Every sense is on high alert as we roll through the gate. I don’t fucking like being back here.
Out front, Grayson holds out his hand to Summer like he expects to lead her in. Something’s changed about his demeanor. Like he’s found some of his confidence again. I don’t like it.
“Summer, you're not going fucking anywhere without us.” I take a step closer, and one of the security guys drops his hand to his belt, where he's got his piece. It's still covered by a little flap on his holster, but the intention is clear. “We're not here for trouble, but we're not letting you take her.”
“I don’t like this,” Devil growls, echoing my thoughts exactly.
Summer turns to me. “It's okay. I'll be safe as long as I know you guys are out here. I promise.” She smiles. “I know you'll all turn the Earth on its head if they try anything.”
Well, that's the fucking truth. “Thirty minutes. If we don’t see you walking out that door by then, we’re coming in.”
She nods with a little smile, then lets Grayson lead her inside.
30
SUMMER
“We missed you, you know that, right?” Grayson says as he leads me up the stairs like I'm a visitor in the house I grew up in.
“You did? Which part? The making you look like an idiot on camera, or the bit where the men I’m sleeping with kicked your ass?”
“Shut up, little bitch,” he hisses, then shakes his head. “You belong here, honey and I’m sure you’ll realize that once you have time to realize that the temptations you’re blinded by right now are superficial and fleeting compared to the love you can find here.”
That little slip at the beginning makes me uneasy. He’s always seemed like a snake under the surface, but it’s like he’s having a harder and harder time holding it in. There's more going on here than I realize. I need to find out what.
He opens the door to Dad's bedroom, and right away it’s clear that at least some of the news wasn’t a lie. He closes the door behind us, leaving his guards in the hall. There’s a sickly smell in the air and my father’s nothing but a lump under the covers. Grayson turns up the lights a bit.
“Maybe I should come back later.” I try to turn around but Grayson grabs my arm, keeping me from leaving.
Dad notices us and rolls around to look. He looks terrible. His eyes are sunken, his skin pale and he doesn't look like he's eaten for days. There's an IV drip set up next to the bed, with a clear plastic tube leading to a needle in his arm. “Summer…” he whispers soundlessly.
I rush over to his bed, images of Vivian in my head. His breathing is shallow and his eyes have lost focus. “What's wrong with him? This looks just like—”
“It’s the poison,” Grayson says so matter-of-factly that it takes a moment to register. Then I whirl on him.
“The what?”
He shrugs, grinning like a hyena, all pretense of concern gone. “Aconite. Just enough, and it seems like serious food poisoning. Nausea, a little numbness. Bad enough that I had to help him in here, and with just a little extra in the IV there, it keeps him firmly in place, too weak to do anything. It's been tricky. Too much will kill him outright, and that would mess up my plans.”
There’s no shred of humanity in his eyes. What kind of monster would do something like this? Even to a man as horrible as my father, especially when Dad was ready to give Grayson everything. “Why?”
“It wasn’t my first choice, obviously. This would’ve been so much easier if you’d just done what you were supposed to.” He holds up his thumb and index finger, so close together that they're almost touching. “I was this close to having it all work perfectly, but you had to go and fuck everything up.”
“I don’t understand.” I back towards the door, but he’s faster.
“I’ve been looking forward to breaking you for fucking years,” he whispers. “A pretty little submissive wife and a seamless transition of power. But it was taking too long.”
“Vivian.”
His face twists. “She didn’t like me, and the fucking cancer wasn’t working fast enough.”
“But why this? I was gone. All you had to do was wait.”
“I’m done waiting!” he snaps. “And your friend out there knows too much. It was only a matter of time. I needed insurance. It’s too late to do this the easy way, but now that you’re here, I’m glad you came. If you want to save your father, you’ll listen to me.”
“Why would I?”
“Because I know you, Summer. You might be a willful brat, but you’re not the kind of girl that will watch a person die if you can do something to stop it.”