Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
There is only one thing Regent Malone cares about.
His family.
And he will do whatever is necessary to protect them.
Amass power, wealth, and fear.
Whatever it takes.
Because they are the only thing standing between him and the darkness.
Cross his family and feel his wrath.
No one is immune . . .
Not even a gorgeous brunette with more sass than self-preservation.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
Thirty-five years ago . . .
Eddie’s eye was melting.
Regent stared at the flames and fought against letting any emotion show. But he couldn’t stop his hands from clenching into fists.
A cold, dark feeling enveloped him as his father placed his hands on his shoulders.
“You can’t get attached, son. I know it’s a hard lesson to learn. But if you don’t care, you can’t get hurt. Understand?”
Regent nodded and looked away from the fireplace and the remains of his beloved teddy bear.
He headed upstairs to his bedroom, where he found a piece of paper sitting on the bed. It had a colorful scribble on it.
A picture from Victor.
Even though his brother was too young to realize what today was, it still felt good to get something on his fifth birthday.
Twenty-seven years ago . . .
Regent heard a scream and turned, looking through the window into the garden. His heart leapt as he saw Lottie lying on the ground.
Had she fallen out of the tree he’d told her not to climb? Where the hell was her nanny? Regent started to walk out of the study, needing to check on her.
“Where do you think you’re going, son?”
Freezing, he stared over at his father. The man who had given him life. And who was slowly trying to bleed the humanity out of him.
“Lottie hurt herself.”
“So?” his father asked coldly. “Your siblings will get hurt, but that isn’t your problem. Glenda will take care of her.”
Lottie was his daughter. His only daughter. She was three. She could have hurt herself badly.
But Laurent Malone didn’t care about anything but business—his legacy.
Regent’s siblings were just fodder to him—things to be used. Victor was to be Regent’s bodyguard. Jardin, his brains. Maxim, the charm.
And Lottie? Well, she was unplanned and a surprise. The first Malone girl to be born in years.
And ever since Regent first held her, she’d become the person he loved most in the world. Who he had to protect.
Lottie was his. And he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. Even if that meant having to pretend that she meant nothing to him in front of this evil, rotting piece of flesh that was his father.
“I thought I would go and tell her to stop screaming. It’s annoying.”
His father watched him. “Careful, son. A weakness can be used against you. Exploited. If you have someone you would do anything to protect, you can be easily manipulated. If Lottie is too much of a distraction for you, then I can just as soon make her disappear.”
He was going to be ill.
But he couldn’t let it show or Lottie would be the one to pay.
“I have no weaknesses, father. And I never will.”
Thirteen years ago . . .
He died during a thunderstorm.
Fitting, really.
Her father had created chaos and fear wherever he went. So, of course he would die during a thunderstorm in the middle of the night.
As the doorbell rang that evening, Jilly tiptoed down the stairs. She knew Mama would want her to hide while she answered the door. Nothing good ever came from someone ringing your doorbell at one in the morning.
Although this was New Orleans. Sometimes, it could be someone just wanting a cup of sugar.
Not in this weather, though.
Peering out of the shadows, she saw him.
He stood straight and tall. He looked older than twenty-seven. Or maybe that was due to how he carried himself. Confident. Dominant.
Every time she’d seen him, it was like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Jilly couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him smile.
If ever.
“Mr. Malone.” Mama didn’t sound surprised. But then, she’d been married to Jilly’s father for over twenty years, a man with no morals or conscience, so it was probably hard for her to be surprised by anything anymore.
Who was the right-hand man to Laurent Malone.
The most feared man in New Orleans.
And this man’s father.
“Regent,” he said in a surprisingly gentle tone.
“Please, come in.”
He stepped inside, water dripping off his jacket, though he didn’t seem to notice. He wasn’t even shivering. Should she go and get him a towel? Surely she didn’t have to hide anymore now that they knew who was at the door.
But she didn’t move. Because she didn’t want to risk either of them sending her away.
Jilly was almost seventeen; she wasn’t a child anymore.
“He’s gone, then?” Mama asked in a strange voice. She sounded almost detached.
Who was she talking about?
“They both are,” Regent replied.
Hmm, he sounded almost like Mama. Who was gone? Where had they gone?
Mama slumped against the wall and Jilly jumped to her feet, ready to race down there and help her. But Regent leaped forward and grabbed her mother, swinging the older woman into his arms and carrying her into the living room.
Jilly tiptoed down the stairs, shivering slightly. It was cold tonight. Peeking in, she saw that Regent had laid her mother down on the sofa and was pouring her a drink.