Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Someone knocks on the door. We don’t move and the knock comes again. Lucy hurries over, opening it quietly, then quickly takes two steps back.
Cormac strides inside and stops on the threshold.
I stare at him. My heart starts racing into my throat. If he’s here, that means Adriano sent him. There are about a dozen heavily armed Marino soldiers out in the hall with orders to keep me safe no matter what.
“We should talk,” he says, voice like a thunderstorm.
It sends a chill down my spine at the same time my core clenches tight.
Lucy looks at me, panic in her eyes. She clearly doesn’t want to go.
But I have to face this.
“It’s okay,” I tell her, facing my husband. My abductor. My ghost. Whatever he is. I stare into Cormac’s hard eyes and hold his gaze. “This won’t take long.”
“Yell if you need anything,” Lucy says, glancing at Cormac before quickly leaving the door. The door shuts behind her.
He doesn’t move. My husband-tormentor-nightmare looms, his muscles bulging against his tight tuxedo. A gold wedding band glitters on his tattooed left hand. There are letters on his fingers, but I can’t figure out what they say. Something starting with a D on his left hand and an L on his right. A chill runs down my spine. I gaze up at his throat, at the ink on his neck, and up to his lips, those lips that made me quiver with need up on the altar. And finally, his eyes again.
“Why?” I ask him, one word enough to damn us both.
I expect him to come storming over, but he remains frozen, like he’s struggling to keep himself contained.
He reeks of tension and smells like heaven.
It drives me freaking crazy.
“Finn wasn’t enough for you,” he says, his voice like an itch down the nape of my neck. “It couldn’t have been him.”
I shake my head. “This is crazy.”
“The fact that he let me take his place should tell you everything.”
“You should have told me first.”
“Maybe.”
“You should have told my brother at least.” I grip my glass tightly. “You can’t just keep breaking into my life.”
His head tilts to the side ever so slightly. My cheeks burn hot and red with flushed embarrassment and terror. What if I’m wrong? What if he’s not actually my ghost?
But no, I’m positive. I can see it in his eyes. The slight widening. The tightening of his jaw. He knows what I’m talking about.
“That’s the problem, Bianca. I can’t stop.” He finally takes a step closer. One single movement, and halts. “I’ve tried. Lord knows. But I’m a weak man, and I couldn’t let Finn marry you when he wasn’t enough.”
“You keep saying that. I don’t even know what you mean. Finn seemed nice—”
“Nice will get you killed,” he snarls, shockingly angry. I flinch back and he visibly calms himself. “Finn is a good man, but you’re getting thrown into a charnel house. You need a monster if you’re going to survive it.”
“You’re the monster then? That’s supposed to convince me?” I throw back my drink and swallow it hard. “Here’s news for you. I don’t want to marry you.”
“I don’t want to marry you either.”
“Then why the hell did you do it?”
“Because you’re going to need me.” He comes closer again. I should move away. I should run. All my instincts are screaming at me to throw my glass at his face and get the hell out of here. But my body feels like it’s being tugged in the opposite direction, right toward the source of all my nightmares.
“I think you’re overestimating yourself.”
A slow shake of his head. “No, feather, I’m not. Men will try to hurt you. Finn won’t be enough. I told your brother this, and he understood. That’s why I’m here.”
“If you changed Adriano’s mind, he would’ve told me.” I hold up a hand to stop him from advancing closer. “You need me to agree, don’t you?” He tenses again and I can’t help the laugh that bubbles out. “Oh my god. Adriano said it’s my choice, didn’t he? That’s exactly like him.”
“Be smart. With me by your side, you’ll be untouchable. The whole of New York will be terrified to get anywhere near you. Finn might be good, but I’m pure evil. That’s what you need.”
“You’re wrong,” I whisper, glaring at him now. A little confidence fills my chest. “That’s what you don’t get about me. All this mafia stuff?” I gesture around us. “I loathe it. I’ve spent most of my life volunteering at a women’s shelter in a pathetic attempt at trying to balance out all the shitty things my family does. I only agreed to this in the first place because Adriano said I’d have the chance to set up my own foundation. Your evil isn’t appealing, Cormac. If anything, it’s completely repulsive.”