Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
I felt dizzy looking at the many human bones around me, all bleached white. Mementos of Nestore’s quest for revenge. This place was a graveyard, not a home. The air felt heavy, loaded with dark memories. I wanted out, but there was no escaping.
Nestore’s lips pulled into a satisfied smirk. He gestured at the display of bones. “You knew many of these men. Our tormentors. Now forever exhibited as a warning for those who think they could disobey me.”
I shook my head, suppressing a wave of nausea. “This is…” I wasn’t even sure what to say, except for disgusting and crazy. “Madness.”
Nestore scanned the trophies. “It’s a necessary precaution.”
“If police ever set foot inside, you’d be in trouble.”
Nestore chuckled, expression alight with playful mirth. “Nobody sets foot into my home without my permission, Amelia. Do not concern yourself with such silly worries.”
“What do you want me to worry about?”
He tugged me closer and cupped my cheek almost lovingly. “How to make up for your transgression.”
“Can I?” I breathed.
Nestore was so used to his anger. Was he still capable of forgiveness?
“We’ll see.” He dropped his hand and opened the double doors to the ballroom. My belly tightened, remembering all the bloodshed this room had seen. The aroma of firewood carried over to me from the massive dark gray marble fireplace, where ambers glowed. I froze, my lips parting. At the end of the room, a platform had been set up. A massive dark throne and a slightly smaller white-gray throne sat on top of it. As we got closer, I could see that the smaller throne had been made from driftwood, while the bigger one had been made from almost black wood.
“After our wedding, this will be your throne,” Nestore said as he gestured to the driftwood throne.
He sat on the black throne, leaned back, and spread his legs with a smirk. He enjoyed my obvious shock.
“You aren’t a king,” I said, because I worried that he’d forgotten. What if he had fully descended into madness? The idea was unbearable, but I’d rather come to terms with it now.
His smirk sharpened, and he stretched his arms out on the rests, flexing long fingers before gripping the rounded ends. “In these walls, in my city, in my territory, I am whatever I decide. If I call myself king, then I am king. My word is law. You’d be better off remembering it too.”
I wrapped my arms around my body.
He looked away with a hard twist of his mouth as if he couldn’t bear the sight of me. “But I am very aware of who I am, Amelia. I am the Underboss. I am the Camorrista. I am Nestore Romano. I am the man you betrayed.”
I nodded because I wasn’t sure what else to do. “Can I go to my room now? Or will you lock me in a cell?”
Nestore shoved to his feet, his eyes alight with torment. “You won’t ever be locked in a cell again. You are too precious to rot in a basement.”
“Instead, you’ll lock me in a gilded cage of your own making?” I asked with a sad smile.
His brows furrowed, then his expression smoothed. “Follow me,” he clipped, face hardening. He strode away, and I had trouble keeping up with his long strides. We followed another staircase up to the bedrooms.
Nestore opened the last door in the hallway. The primary bedroom. I stepped into the familiar room. It was the room where I’d slept before I’d run off. Black silk bedding covered the bed, and heavy black drapes hung from the four posters. “Is this where you sleep?”
Nestore followed me toward the bed. “Not since you left. We’ll share this room once we’re married.” He wrapped a strand of my hair around his index finger. “Only two more weeks before every part of you will be mine.”
I glared. “Not every part,” I whispered, overcome by anger. “My heart belongs to the boy I once knew, not the man in front of me.”
He dropped his finger. A look as if he’d been stabbed passed his face before the cruel mask took its place. “Then I’ll have to make the ownership of your body even more worthwhile.”
He turned abruptly, causing his fur coat to swish past my legs, before he stalked out and thrust the door shut.
What was I supposed to do now?
Was I allowed to walk around the house? Did I even want to? What other horrors would I find?
Was my father still locked in a cell in the basement?
Sometime in the early morning hours, I had fallen asleep but was woken by a soft knock. I untangled myself from the blankets, disoriented. I was still in yesterday’s clothes and in desperate need of a shower. A young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, waited in front of the door when I opened it. She was lanky and tall with ash-blond hair and an eye-catching gap between her front teeth. She was gorgeous, especially her full mouth, which caught my attention.