Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Alone, on a private island. I didn’t even know if The Butcher was coming with us. The Butcher and my wife had gotten close.
I was so pissed off, but I didn’t let that detract me from what I had to do. Making my way to my wife’s sewing room, I stepped inside, and sure enough, she was attempting to take the shelves down that I had made and put up on the walls. She was red-faced from trying, and she wiped at her brow. Her gaze landed on me, and she stopped, put her hands on her hips, and then glared a little more.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What am I doing? What are you doing?”
“I’m taking down your gift. You didn’t want to accept mine, so I have to stop accepting yours.”
“Stop!”
She growled and threw her arms up in the air. She looked so fucking cute doing that. I couldn’t help but smirk.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said.
“Like what?”
“Like you are entertained with how this is turning out. This is not funny.”
“I am not laughing.”
Again, she glared at me, which I couldn’t help but laugh at. She was so freaking cute.
Freya shook her head. She had her hands on her hips, and I noticed how deflated her shoulders were. She looked so tired. I had caused this.
“I was wrong,” I said.
This made her jerk her head up.
I was not going to repeat myself.
“I should have accepted the quilt you made, and destroying it was wrong.”
“I worked really hard on that quilt,” she said.
I saw the tears in her eyes. “I know.” Staring at the floor filled with her fabric. “I won’t reject any of your presents again.”
“You won’t?”
“No,” I said. “I’m not used to this. I’m not used to having a woman in my house.” This made me sigh. I wasn’t going into details with her.
“This is new to me too.”
“I get that. We’ll work through it together. I get that you didn’t want to be married to me, but Ivan will not grant us a divorce. We’re going to have to make this work.”
Ivan wanted a kid, and I knew enough from the other Brigadiers to know there was no point in arguing. I had to make the best of this situation. I would do it, also knowing I would try to find any means of getting us our freedom.
“Okay,” Freya said. “So does that mean you’re going to stop yelling at me every time you see me?”
“Yes.”
She nodded. “That would be good.”
“We also need to leave in less than two hours,” I said.
“What? Why?” She frowned.
“The threat to your life has just been upgraded and we can no longer stay here.”
“Where are we going?”
“A private island.”
****
Freya
I always figured not leaving my dad’s home was my choice. I never went on vacation or did anything so ... extreme. However, leaving Victor’s house was a real struggle. I didn’t want to leave the sanctity of my sewing room.
The Butcher came and helped me pack the items I would need for an extended stay. After leaving his home, I felt like my heart was going to rip right out of my chest. It didn’t. We made it to a private airport, where The Butcher actually flew us to the island.
All of this went down under the cover of darkness. When we arrived, I didn’t get chance to see Ivan’s home. We walked in, dumped our bags, and went to sleep. The Butcher didn’t stay. She was heading back to the city, to help out with Victor’s territory. She would stop by from time to time with an update.
Victor had the cell phone, but other than that, there was nothing. No other source of Internet. We were cut off. There was a television, but it didn’t have streaming channels. There was a large collection of DVDs there. I even spotted some old-school VHS tapes, which was surreal to me.
There was no way for the outside world to get in, other than if they flew, and no way for us to get out. We were surrounded by ocean, and I couldn’t help but think of all the big sea creatures lurking beneath, and that alone terrified me.
Waking up in the morning, the sun was shining, and there was a slight breeze coming in through the open window. Staring at the curtains that blew back and forth, I watched them for several seconds before sitting up in bed. The sheets beneath me were so soft and dreamy. The bed itself felt like I had slept on a cloud.
Taking a deep breath, I thought about making the most of this time with Victor. The thought of my husband didn’t exactly fill me with joy. If anything, it did the complete opposite.
I didn’t know if it was possible for me to be happy.
We had a truce. But I didn’t know how this was going to work.