Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Tears slowly roll down her dirtied cheeks, and she shakes her head, the slight movement looking as though it causes her pain. “I can’t do that,” she says, her bottom lip quivering. “I want him dead.”
I clench my jaw, my grip tightening on the gun as I slam it against Jordan’s temple again. “I . . . I can’t go back to that place,” I tell her, not sure if I mean the physical prison or the mental one I’d be trapped in if I had to become that old version of myself, the version who could slit a throat without so much as flinching.
A coldness creeps into her stare as she shifts her gaze from me and directly to Jordan. “He needs to be stopped,” she tells me, her chest heaving. “If it’s not me, then it’ll be some other girl. Somebody else’s daughter. Somebody’s girlfriend. Sister. Niece. I can’t just . . . I can’t walk away from this without knowing that it’s over.”
“Tilly.”
“What if Zeph is next? Chloe?” Her tears fall harder, and she groans, agony clear in her broken stare. “Please.”
My chest heaves, the mental war quickly weighing me down.
“Let the darkness in,” Tilly tells me, a stark sureness in her tone, as if somehow knowing exactly what she’s asking for. “It’s okay, Caesar. Let the demons out. Give them control. I trust you. I’m not scared of you, but if it’s too much to risk, then let me go. Release me and I’ll do it.”
Her words are like a magical undoing, stripping me bare, peeling back all the layers I’ve worked so hard to keep concealed. Within a moment, I’m tossing the gun aside, and I pull Jordan’s head away from the metal shelf before slamming it straight back and watching it rebound with a sickening crack.
I won’t kill him, but she’s right; he needs to be stopped.
I drop him to the floor, grab one of the discarded cans, and use it to nail Jordan again and again, punishing him for every little mark he left on Tilly’s body, every wicked thought he’s had against her, every time he attempted to take what’s mine.
It goes on and on, the beast inside of me completely taking control until I can barely make sense of anything that’s happening. I’m a fucking machine, working on autopilot. I keep going for Zephyr. For the betrayal he surely feels. For the thirteen-year friendship that was reduced to nothing. For me. For the anger of not having seen any of this. For letting this bastard into my home and into our lives.
Jordan never stood a chance.
This is the darkness I’ve warned her about, the real man I’ve kept locked away and refused to let her near, yet despite my warnings, despite me telling her to run, she was the one who released me.
“Caesar.”
Tilly’s soft voice cuts through the insanity, and my head whips up like a crazed man, my grip so tight on the dented can that it caves in under my hand.
“It’s okay, Caesar. It’s done,” she says. “Come back to me.”
Her voice is like a beacon in the night, calling me home, and I glance down, taking in Jordan’s lifeless body beneath me. He’s still breathing, and a wave of relief crashes through the pit of my stomach like a wild tsunami. He might be breathing, but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be okay, and judging from the look of him, I doubt he’ll ever step outside of a hospital ever again.
I drop the can and shakily get to my feet.
“That’s right,” Tilly coos, her eyes beckoning me forward as her soft tone is somehow able to lure the demons right back into their cages without a fight. “You’re okay. It’s time to look after me now.”
“Fuck,” I breathe, snapping out of the fog, the haze clearing inside my mind and setting me free before realizing that Tilly is still hung by chains. I spring toward her, desperation pulsing through my veins as I take her body weight with ease and lessen the pressure on her arms before lifting her just enough to free the chains from the industrial hook that’s screwed directly into the rock above the cellar.
The moment her arms are freed, she crumbles into me, her legs wrapping around my body as her arms flop heavily down by her sides. I wrap my arms around her, holding her against my chest and vowing to myself that I will never let her go, no matter what demons possess me.
I breathe her in, holding her tight. “I’ve got you, hellcat,” I tell her. “I’m never letting you go.”
I feel her tears against my neck as I walk us straight out of the cellar, not wanting her to be in there a moment longer than necessary, and as I make my way back to my car, my hand roams up and down her back. “Tell me you’re okay, hellcat. Tell me he didn’t—”