Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
“What the hell are you talking about your sister? I didn’t take anyone; I had nothing to do with that.”
“But you knew, and your father was part of it.” How does she know all of this? This doesn’t make sense.
“It’s that little bitch. Fine, aren’t you afraid that I’ll warn the others that you’re coming to save your precious sister?”
She leaned in close, and I had to pull back to keep her out of my face. “No, you know why, because I have a feeling that where you’re going, you won’t be able to remember your own name.”
“What? What does that mean? Where am I going?”
She walked out of the room with one last cryptic remark thrown over her shoulder. “Have the life you deserve.” What does she mean by that?
“Hey, come back here.” I tried getting out of bed and fell flat on my face. “Ouch, that hurt!” Where am I going? What does she mean? What’s going on? What’s happening to me?
I felt real fear when I heard the door close downstairs and felt the emptiness right away. What am I supposed to do here alone? I don’t know how to take care of myself; I never had to. Who’s going to pay the bills? My phone, where’s my phone? I crawled from the room and made my way to the bedroom she’d used, but it wasn’t there.
I felt raw panic as I made my way back to the bedroom and into bed, where I buried myself beneath the covers in fear. I wanted my mother, my father, anyone, but the little bitch had threatened to throw me out on the streets if anyone showed up.
What am I supposed to do? What has happened to my life? I have no one I can call. Everyone is gone. I have no doubt that all those people who used to kiss up to me when I was Mrs. Ryder Sumner wouldn’t give me the time of day now.
Just wait; I’ll get back on my feet somehow and show them all. I don’t need my dad or Mary or anyone else to help me get what I want; I can do it all on my own. Even as I thought about it, I felt that gnawing fear in my gut. The thought of starting all over made me break out in a cold sweat, and I felt the shakes coming on.
The nausea came in a rush, and I was barely quick enough to turn onto my side so as not to choke on my own puke. Is this what desolation feels like? Did that bitch Elena feel this way when I took her life away from her? Good, serves her right. Why should she be happy living the life that was meant for me?
I looked around the room in fear as my thoughts became jumbled. Could I come back from this? If so, where do I start?
Chapter 101
*Ryder*
“Is there something on your mind, Elena? You know you can tell me anything right.” I know we’re straight, that we’re back on the right track, and, dare I say, even stronger and better than ever. I can feel it with each breath I take in her presence; I see it in her eyes each time we make love. But sometimes, she gets this look on her face that I’m not too sure about.
This is new territory for both of us. Our fights in the past never lasted this long, and there was never this much to overcome before, obviously. Add the fact that we’d both grown and changed in our own way; there were now some things I didn’t know about her, and that look was one of them.
I’m not gonna lie; it was making me nervous, and this feeling brought home the fact of just how much I had taken for granted in the past. Before, I would’ve been too far up my own ass to broach the subject, but that’s a version of myself I wish not to revisit in this lifetime, so now I’m asking just to clear the air and make sure that everything really is okay with her.
“What makes you ask? Do I look like something is bothering me?” Yup, she’s pissed, alright. She always becomes evasive when something is bothering her, and she doesn’t want to open up, or she thinks that I will just shut her down, so there’s no point in wasting her breath. That I remember only too well. When is the shame of my past going to let me go?
It’s as if each day, I recall something about myself that I’m ashamed of and have to fight to drag myself back to the present with the promise of doing better this time around. I’m not sure what I expected from our reunion, but this attack of conscience with every other breath wasn’t it, that’s for sure. That shit is brutal.