Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“You were gentle,” I say, trying to stand, but my legs are more like jelly now than they were before.
“Stay seated so I can wash your hair and don’t assume it will always be that way, you’re ill, and I didn’t want to hurt you further,” he sneers the last part, and I can tell that it’s a lie as soon as the words pass his lips. If he wanted to hurt me, he would’ve. He held all the power in that instant, and all he did was bring me pleasure.
There is this peace that seems to sweep over us. Something has changed, but I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is.
The rest of the shower, we’re quiet, he washes my hair for me and rinses it. Then he dries himself and me before helping me into a nightgown and panties.
He pulls back the covers, helps me into bed, and I feel a little better after my shower. My head doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode, and my stomach is settled. Sinking back against the pillows, the sound of Julian’s phone ringing causes me to startle.
Julian curses under his breath and walks over to the nightstand, where his gun and phone sit. He looks at the screen and swipes a finger over it.
“I hope you have some information for me,” Julian says, suddenly becoming the dark mafia man he is.
Watching intently, his expression changes, becoming murderous as the person on the other line speaks.
“Okay, and yes, she’s doing better. It’s a good thing she ate hardly any of it.” His gaze finds mine, and I look away, the moment feeling too intense. They talk a little while longer, and then he ends the call. He sits on the edge of the bed with his phone in his hand, looking like he could break the thing into a million pieces.
It’s none of my business, but I want to know who called him and what they said since it obviously had something to do with me.
“Who was that?” I ask quietly.
“The doc, he confirmed our assumptions that it was poison.”
“But who would want to poison me, and why?”
Julian doesn’t answer me and crawls under the covers, tugging me into his side. I feel warm and protected, but deep down, there is a nagging fear. Someone wants me dead… and I have no idea why.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head. You’re mine, and I protect what is mine. Whoever did this to you will pay dearly. I can promise you that.” And I believe him, feel the justice in his words moving through me. Julian may be a bad man, but deep down, beneath it all, he is something else, and I’m going to keep digging till I find the person I know he can be.
16
Julian
By Thursday, Elena is back to feeling like herself, and I’ve been asking myself if I made a mistake when I touched her in the shower. Watching her come apart beneath my hand, it was the most exhilarating thing ever. It unleashed a hunger that has yet to be satiated.
Seeing my release on her little pink pussy, it gutted me, made me want to do anything to see it again, and that was a dangerous place to be. I couldn’t be developing feelings or growing attached, and yet every day, I feel like I am.
My heart was slowly coming back to life, beating with a newfound joy, and I hated it. I wanted to rip the thing out of my chest because there was no room for it in my life. Feeling was a downfall, and I realized that when my mother died. But when I thought she might be gone, that fear came back ten-fold.
“Are you going to wear that thing for Elena,” Markus taunts as he walks into my office, jerking his head toward the dress I had picked out for my soon to be wife.
“Say one more stupid thing, and I’m going to cut off one of your fucking fingers.” I grumpily say into my coffee, which I’ve poured a heavy dose of whiskey into.
I look at the dress hanging from the office door. It’s a scandalous scrap of material, and I hate more than anything that I’m going to make her wear it, but it’s got to be this way. Her father will be there, and I can’t have him thinking his daughter is being treated as anything more than my slave. I want to hit him where it hurts, and unfortunately for Elena, she is his weakest link.
“Do you think she is going to wear that?”
“I guess we will find out, won’t we?” I shrug. “Not that I’m giving her an option. It’s the dress, or she can go naked.”
“As if you would let her do that,” Markus teases. Fed up with his bullshit, I get up and walk around the desk. Grabbing the dress from the door, I hold it up and just stare at it. It’s barely going to cover her ass.