Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Shasha let me go, but not before he gave me one last squeeze.
Dima finished my hair while Shasha leaned against the doorframe watching us.
His dark, all-knowing eyes stayed on me while I looked down at my toes.
I didn’t want him to see the fear in my eyes.
Today had been…bad.
That night, thirteen years ago, had been the worst night of my life.
I’d been home alone except for the guards. Daniil had been the newest guard added to my brother’s team, and he was currently suffering from a case of food poisoning. But he’d stayed doing his job until his replacement had shown.
He hadn’t wasted time when he saw the guard come in, darting out the door after a brief exchange.
I’d gone back to binge watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel.
I was on one about a snowman coming to life when I felt the hair prickle on the back of my neck.
Turning my face, I stared at the guard. Christensen.
He was closer than he was the last time I looked at him, but he wasn’t paying attention to me. He was looking out the window.
“Hey, Christensen. What is it?” I asked.
That’s when Christensen turned, and I realized that the guard in my room wasn’t a guard at all.
I made a dash to climb over the sofa and run, but that only put me at the worst possible angle.
He was on me in two strides.
I’d only had time to lean over the sofa in my attempt to escape when I felt his hands on me.
He roughly ripped my pants off and…
“Done,” Dima said, pulling me out of the memories of the worst night of my life.
Sick.
I felt sick.
I’d done all the things after that night.
I’d gone to a therapist. I’d talked about it with my family. I’d been open and honest about everything that I experienced.
There’d been very bad days, but eventually over time, I’d learned to cope with the horror that had happened to me.
I’d never gotten over it, per se, but I’d learned to deal with it in a semi-healthy way.
Sure, I’d buried it deep so I basically never thought about it, but I was living.
I’d slept with men since.
I’d had many, many boyfriends.
All of them knew about what happened to me, because I made sure to tell all of them so if I freaked out, they knew why.
But I didn’t freak out all that much anymore.
Unless, that is, I saw my rapist at a prison he wasn’t supposed to be at.
The day that he got out was going to be the worst day of my life.
And the worst day of his, because I knew that the moment he was free, Shasha and Dima were going to kill him.
I cursed myself every single night for fucking up and calling the police instead of my brother.
Had I called my brother, he might’ve gotten there faster and dealt with the problem. But I’d automatically called the police, and they’d stopped Shasha from killing him.
Now, he was alive and living in prison knowing that he only had to serve a thirteen-year sentence.
I had exactly two years left until I had to start dealing with the fact that life was about to get complicated.
“Are you even listening to me?” Shasha asked.
I looked up at him and said, “When he gets out…”
Shasha grinned then, showing his upper and lower teeth. “Then he’s going to die.”
I shook my head. “Find a way to do it so that your daughters don’t have to grow up without a father.”
“Daughters. Times three. One more on the way.”
I blinked.
Then I straightened out of my lean against the counter and said, “What?”
“Brecken is pregnant again. With another girl,” he said. “We found out about fifteen minutes ago. Wanted to come over and tell y’all the good news in person.”
I shrieked and threw my hands to his face, then pulled it down to mine so I could kiss him on the cheek.
“Congrats, man,” Dima said. “Looks like I came home at the perfect time.”
After I did the whole jumping and dancing thing, Shasha put his arm around my waist and guided me into the living room where Brecken was sitting with their daughters, Vivi and Rosie.
The moment I saw her, I excitedly moved to her.
She looked at me sadly, and I pulled her to her feet and said, “I can’t wait until she’s here!”
Brecken laughed and we all exchanged another round of hugs and kisses.
Vivi, too, joined in on the excitement.
“Are you excited, baby?” I asked her.
“I’m not the baby anymore,” she declared. “Haven’t been for a while. You’re going to have to find a new name for me.”
“Okay, how about…” I tapped my upper lip. “Tiny?”
She scrunched up her nose. “That’s derogatory.”
I laughed. “I’ll think of a new nickname, then. One that’s not derogatory.”
Shasha had given Vivi a word of the day calendar, and she’d used the words in daily speech relentlessly.