Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
I don’t want to talk to him, so instead, I curl up in the opposite corner of the seat to him and wrap my arms around my legs. I already know he’s going to hurt me. I don’t need to ask him if he will, I can feel it oozing from him.
The man who’s just paid for my time is far from good. My father might be bad, but this man, he’s evil. It’s as if he wears it like a cologne. And I’ve a feeling my reaction to him has made him even more excited to spend time with me.
Bane likes my tears, he enjoys my fear, and I know he’ll love my screams.
When trust is broken, it’s almost impossible to get back. Rebuilding something so fragile doesn’t happen easily if at all. I’ve experienced the worst life has to offer. At least, I thought I had until I met Rayne and Dante. We’ve all been exposed to horrors in our younger years that no one should ever have to witness or experience.
The pain inflicted on me started with the one person who should have cared for me the most. My father should have been there to protect me from the monsters that hide in plain sight, not just under the bed. Instead, he rented me out to Bane and continued to abuse me.
I begged for mercy, but it wasn’t something my father was capable of offering. During those times I spent with Bane, I learned to endure. I longed for a reprieve, but I never entertained any thoughts of my survival. There were times when the darkness would engulf me, and I’d pray for death.
It never came.
I used to wonder how and why I managed to live through the violence and pain. Every day, I would question the deities, but none of them answered. In the end, I found the courage to run away and go in search of my sister. Maybe the fates knew I would survive and go on to wreak vengeance on those who tortured me.
Maybe it’s my calling.
As the plane touches down in Paris, I wonder what we’ll find here.
I’ve never told Dante or Harper about the times I tried to take my own life. They’re aware of the atrocities I’ve experienced. What they don’t know about are the moments I would hold a gun to my head or contemplate swallowing enough pills to kill a racehorse. I just could never bring myself to do it, though. At the time, I thought I was weak. But I realize now it takes strength to resist those dark urges and fight your way through to the other side and keep going.
We disembark the plane, and the warmth that hangs in the air settles on my skin, calming me for a short moment.
“This makes a nice change from the cold,” Rayne says as she glances over her shoulder toward me.
A smile dances on her lips, and I can’t help but grin too. She’s beautiful. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner, but I haven’t told her I love her yet. The same goes for Dante. I never thought I could trust a man to touch me again or want to be with a man. But with Dante, it’s different.
“I’d certainly be happy to stay here for a while,” I respond.
“Maybe we will,” Dante says as he takes the lead and heads over to the waiting car.
I’m in my underwear when Dante walks into the bedroom of the house we’re renting in the wealthy suburbs of Paris. He’s the only man who’s ever touched me and I haven’t wanted to shed my skin afterward. He stops right behind me, and I hear the hiss of his knife being pulled from its sheath. I can’t help but smile.
When I first met Dante Savage, I was mesmerised. With his penetrating blue eyes, full lips, and a jaw that could cut glass, I thought he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. He’s tall, domineering, and there’s a darkness to him that lingers long after he’s departed a room. He’s a magnet that draws me in, and I can’t fight his pull.
The memory that hit me while on the plane hasn’t helped my anxiety. I can’t seem to shake the darkness that’s taken hold of me. I know I will get my time with Bane, and I’ll draw his blood. But for now, I have to focus on Rayne and our current job, not on the past or future.
“What are you doing?” I ask Dante, forcing my memories into a little box deep in the recesses of my mind.
“I think you need a distraction,” he murmurs against my ear as his tongue snakes out and teases its way over the lobe. “You know I can read you like a book. Something has you spooked.”