Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
I needed to check in with my outfit back on the island though I could easily see everything virtually on my computer. I still like having human contact and it has already been way too long. I made the necessary calls and was thinking about what to order in for dinner when the phone rang.
I didn’t have to look to know who was calling. It had taken him long enough. “What do you want Aldridge.”
“I need to speak to my daughter. You can’t expect me to wait all night. What if you’re lying to me, what if it was someone else who took her and you’re just using it to your advantage?”
“If that’s what you want to believe go right ahead. But don’t forget what I threatened to do. You have until eight o’ clock tomorrow morning to give me what I want or your precious daughter will be no more.”
He hemmed and hawed and damn near blew a gasket and I waited for him to calm down. “I already told you, an eye for an eye asshole. You murdered my old man now I have your fucking daughter. You want her back you give me what the fuck I want or you’ll never see her alive again.”
I heard movement in the doorway and turned expecting to see one of the guys standing there. I hung up the phone without another word when I saw her. The look on her face said she’d heard it all. Fuck me, this isn’t the way I wanted her to learn the truth.
* * *
AVA
* * *
I woke up feeling relaxed and happy. I could feel his seed leaking out of me from his sneak attack while I was half asleep and smiled. I was tired to the bone but somehow I felt very energetic as I made my way to the bathroom for a much needed shower.
I rushed through my shower in a rush to see him. He’d been gone for a while and I’d found myself without the will to do anything but stay in bed where I’d fallen asleep waiting for him to come back.
I rummaged through my luggage for something to wear and not for the first time reminded myself that I needed to call dad. My flight was only a few days away and if I wait any longer he’s bound to get worried.
I pulled on a pair of shorts and a short tee before heading out the door and going in search of him. The house was so big, bigger even than the one I’d grown up in and I used to think that that was the biggest house anywhere.
I started to smile when I heard his voice coming from what I figured was the office after checking more than one room in my search for him. I was about to jump into the doorway playfully when I caught onto what he was saying.
He didn’t see me as I stepped into the room. I could hear my dad screaming on the other end but Damien stayed calm as he explained what he was going to do to me. I almost wet myself at his words they sounded so truthful, like he meant every word.
What kind of man was this, that he could say these things to my dad? I knew my dad’s power, knew that his money commanded respect from everyone. From the police commissioner to the governor. But this man who was too young to be one of dad’s contemporaries didn’t seem to care about that.
This man who I’d so foolishly given myself to…It had all been a lie. From the first meeting in the coffee shop, each time he took me in his arms….lies, all lies.
It felt like the bottom dropped out and my world went black. He finally looked up and saw me there and the look on his face was so guilt ridden that there was no denying I’d heard what I heard. What I’d spent the last few seconds trying to convince myself I couldn’t possibly have heard right.
* * *
DAMIEN
* * *
She bolted! Before I could say one word she turned and ran with a look of such fright on her face I felt that shit in my gut. I got up and went after her, catching up with her at the front door. “Stop!” I wrapped my arms around her and she fought me, screaming invectives at me as she kicked her legs wildly.
Clyde and Max came running and I shook my head at them to stay out of it. “Ava calm down.” She didn’t answer me but at least I got her to stop struggling.
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way…”
“I don’t want to hear it, just let me go. I don’t want to be here any longer.” The tears were heavy in her voice and my gut twisted itself into knots.