Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 97369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Yeah. I understand what he’s saying. What I don’t understand is what Ruthie saw in him? Has he always been this awful?
“Is it too late to return me?” I take a step closer.
He glowers. “What are you talking about?”
“Do you think my mom invested that million dollars? Do you think she’d refund your money and take me back?”
A dark mask slides along his face, hardening his expression. “You don’t have a goddamn clue what you’re talking about.”
“No?” My head tips to the side. “So you didn’t give my mother a million dollars in exchange for … me?”
“Ruthie was your mother, and I never want to hear you suggest otherwise. Understood?”
“Understood?” I laugh. “No. That’s just it. I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you took me from my mom, only to bring me here and treat me like you wish I didn’t exist. I don’t understand how you loved Ruthie, but you can’t stand to look at me. I don’t understand why you treat everyone around you like property. I don’t understand why Milo obeys you like—”
Whack!
The familiar sting of his hand across my face.
Before I can gasp or suck in the tiniest of breaths, Milo charges through the front door, past me, and collars Fletcher’s neck with his bare hands, pinning him to the wall. “If you ever lay a goddamn hand on her again, I will end you,” Milo says, his fingers white from gripping Fletcher’s neck with such force.
Fletcher’s face turns red like his head might pop right off his body. He claws at Milo’s hands, but Milo doesn’t budge; every muscle in his body is rock-hard and steady.
After a few seconds, Milo releases him. Fletcher coughs and rubs his neck, eyes narrowed at Milo. “You can’t end me. Your whole fucking world depends on me. You better never forget that again, or I’ll be forced to remind you how quickly the hand that giveth can also taketh.” Without another word or so much as a glance in my direction, Fletcher ascends the stairs.
Hands fisted at his sides, Milo watches Fletcher slowly disappear, and he turns toward me, lips in a frown. “Come on.”
“I’m fine,” I whisper despite my shaky hand covering my cheek, despite the tears burning my eyes.
It’s not that my cheek hurts, although it does. It’s the gravity of everything around me. Fletcher’s deplorability. Missing Ruthie. Milo marrying Jolene. I’m lost. No direction. No home. No family. When grief’s not clawing at my chest, I feel hollow inside.
“Indie, follow me.”
I hold my ground, shaking my head.
Milo takes my hand and pulls me to the kitchen. Micah glances up from the island and a chopping board full of diced onions. Milo gives him a slight gesture with his chin. Without hesitation, Micah sets the knife aside and exits the kitchen.
Retrieving an ice pack from the freezer, Milo wraps it in a towel and presses it to my face while his other hand cradles my good cheek.
“Come with me,” I whisper, my words breaking as they fall from my lips. There’s such a heaviness in my chest as desperation grows out of control.
“I can’t, Indie girl.” Milo leans in and kisses my forehead. “I just can’t …”
“He doesn’t own you.”
Drawing his brows together, he nods slowly. “He does.”
I try to shake my head, but he’s holding it with his hands. “Milo, I don’t understand.”
“That’s good. I don’t want you to understand. I want you to take what’s left of your innocence, your memories of Ruthie, your determination, and your kind heart and go. Finish school. Go to college. Go absolutely anywhere but here.”
“You’re here. I can’t leave forever. I love …” I swallow the last word, choke on it, and let it poison everything inside me.
I love you.
My gaze lifts to his. Did he hear me slip? Does he feel the same? Would it matter?
“What’s he going to do to you?” I ask.
Milo sets the ice pack on the counter and feathers his fingertips over my cheek for a few seconds. “Nothing I can’t handle.” He nods toward the entry. “Let’s get you on the road.”
I hesitate for a second before tucking my chin and making my way to the car with Milo behind me. He opens my door, and I turn to him, giving a glance in the direction of the house and the windows.
“We’re being watched,” Milo says.
I return a slight nod. “I want to kiss you.”
With his back to the house, he twists his lips, giving me a kiss from too far away. I’m heartbroken and don’t feel like smiling, but his tiny grin brings one out of me as well.
“Can I hug you?”
He doesn’t answer with words. Instead, he pulls me to him, wrapping me in his arms. The warmth. The faint scent of leather. His hand on the back of my head.