Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Tamsin didn’t know that. All her life, her family had been feared. The Denton name commanded respect and fear.
Staring at him, she waited.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“The Denton name is still powerful, they just don’t have the funds to back them up.”
“Let me guess. You do.”
“Ah, so you are a clever girl.”
“Don’t! You don’t get to kidnap me and mock me. Just tell me what you want, and get this over with.”
“Simple, to help the Dentons, I need you. You’re going to become my wife, cementing my position within your family. I supply the funds, and I gain the respect and fear the Denton name has. In return, you will always be safe and protected. You will never have to fear me or any of my family.”
“Do you think you can guarantee that with the way your father is?” she asked, not believing him.
“I do. You can trust me, Tamsin. I will keep my end of the bargain, including the death of Landon Denton. No one will ever know that he is very much alive.”
She didn’t want to give in, but the dangers of not doing so were too great. She couldn’t allow her brother to suffer. She couldn’t allow any of them to suffer.
If what Mason said was true, then her family was in a hard place. It would be so easy to say no, but she knew there wouldn’t be any peace. If his father went after her, she wouldn’t get far. This was her only safe option.
Mason had torn her away from her safety and thrust her back into the world she had hoped to escape from. She was never going to forgive him.
And she would never forget this.
Chapter One
Two Years Later
Tamsin stared out the window overlooking the grounds of the large house where she had resided the past two years. Against her better judgment, and her overwhelming desire, she had agreed to Mason’s terms.
She had only asked that Mason allow her to go back to the town where she had been living, to say goodbye. He allowed that, but only after they had gotten married. Her family had been ecstatic at her return. She didn’t share their excitement. When it came to her wedding, Jacob, the eldest brother, had walked her down the aisle, but she ignored him. She did the same with the rest of her family, apart from their wives. Tamsin spoke to them, because Landon and their wives were the only reason she had agreed to any of this.
Her mother had tried, and Tamsin had told her point-blank that she had no mother. Abel, Oliver, Gideon, and Damon had all tried as well as Gabriel, her half-brother. She wanted nothing to do with any of them.
None of them had cared when their father intended to sell her. Only Landon had come to her rescue every chance he could. He put his own life on the line to make sure she survived.
They were not her family, so she had no interest in attending special events. Mason tried to include them and herself. Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, as well as birthdays and everything in between. She refused. Mason went alone, or she was forced to sit there alone. After the first couple of events, he stopped forcing her.
Before she was married to Mason, Landon had called her to check in. She told him what was happening, and he had every intention of coming to save her. Tamsin refused. She wanted him to be safe. He’d protected her and now it was her turn to protect him.
During the wedding, the Savonases and Dentons looked so happy, so smug with the proceedings. Paul Savonas had been there, and during their dance he had told her quite clearly he loved that she returned.
In the two years she’d been married to Mason, he’d kept his word. Paul hadn’t touched her. Neither had Mason, even though to both families, their wedding night had been consummated.
She and Mason had been sent to the bedroom, and it was just sick and twisted how some of the men had cheered. They wanted the marriage bound, and the only way to guarantee it was with the spillage of blood. Mason cut the inside of his thigh and placed the blood on the sheets. They sat an hour in the bedroom, neither speaking. Well, Mason had tried to make conversation, she’d curled up in the corner far away from him. He had then presented the sheets to the family.
Tamsin hadn’t gone downstairs the following morning, opting to stay upstairs. She refused to see her mother and sisters-in-law. There was no way she was going to deal with their pity or anything they had to say, so she ignored them all.
Arms folded, she looked out at the sun-kissed garden, and she wanted out there so badly. Mason was still at home. He’d returned last night from a business trip. Whenever he was home for any length of time, she had promised herself to always stay in her room. To avoid seeing him.