Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“What happened?” I take another sip and turn my body toward him.
“No, no. You don’t get to know about the business, Emelia. It doesn’t concern you.”
“It does if my father is involved.” And when I was supposed to be involved. It's only been a recent decision to not do what my father asked, but still, the wound is still fresh.
“No, it doesn’t. If your father is the one behind the things going on back in Seattle, he will be dealt with. And you, Emelia, will decide to either join me or join him, and we both know which one would be the wiser choice.”
I shake my head. I want to yell so loudly that I did choose him, and not because I care about him, but so I can rub it in his arrogant fucking face that I had a secret.
“I hate it when you threaten me.” I’ll be dying when we get home anyway. Might as well go out with a fucking bang.
“It’s not a threat. More of a reminder.”
“That’s a threat, Nico.” I scoff, shocked that he really thought that one was going to work.
“You know, I want to go home. I don’t want a honeymoon. I don’t want to be near you, and I don’t want to pretend anymore. Take me home. I want to go home, and that is that. Then you can call my father over and persecute him.” I walk out, and he hollers after me. I ignore him, and when I step out, the guards look at me, gauging me, and my body chooses flight.
I make a run for it. I don’t look back. I can hear them calling after me, and I hear Nico, but I just keep running. I find an alleyway and take it, and when I glance back, I don’t see the guards, but I can hear them coming, so I hide. Squeezing behind a stack of wooden pallets, I hold my breath as I hear them talking.
“Boss, she couldn’t have gone this way. It’s a dead end.” Then they keep running. I slowly emerge and see they’re gone. I walk back toward the entrance to make sure they’re out of sight. I don’t want them to spot me leaving and be back on my trail.
Where do I plan to run? I don’t know, but here we are. I almost make it to the end of the alley, when I’m stopped in place, my body responding instantly to the deep voice in a small alcove I haven’t quite reached yet just inside the alley.
“You tried. You lost. Now what, principessa?” Nico emerges then, like a demon from the shadows, lurking and ready to take what he’s been hunting.
Still trying to catch my breath, I watch him while my body faces the street.
“Nico, please.” I step back slowly as he moves closer.
“Oh, baby, beg me again. Better yet. Run. We can make this really fun,” he taunts, stalking me, making my pulse rise.
I try to think fast about what to do, but I can't get past him. He would catch me with one outstretched arm, and the alley is a dead end.
“Nico, I want to go home. I’ll behave; just let me go home. Please.”
He runs his hand over his five o’clock shadow while looking me up and down. Whatever he's thinking, it's laced with danger and… desire. It's almost a physical entity that radiates off him.
Did it turn him on when I ran from him?
Did it turn me on?
The throbbing between my legs and the puckering of my nipples tell me it did. I can't hide it or ignore it, and part of me wants to run again so he can catch me. Yet that would go against everything I decided today. That I wouldn’t let him have me physically, because I fear him, and I don’t want him to have any form of power over me.
Who am I kidding? Nico has all the power over my wildest desires. My body aches for him, while my head curses at me, waving red flags and caution tape. But the touch of Nico—that is something that no amount of intelligence can deny. I toed the line constantly, since he walked into my home that night, between sanity and lust. And right now, the lust is smashing my sanity in its deadly, cold hands.
I don’t know who I am in this very moment. I’ve never been at such an impasse in my life.
Who am I anymore? I thought I was going from one life to the same one, just in a different state. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Nico is mercurial. Hot then cold. Arousing then terrorizing. At least with my family I knew the minefields to avoid and exactly where I stood. When I came into this marriage, I had a job to do, and now I’ve abandoned it. Thrust into this life with Nico has been nothing like I expected, and I don’t know how to live and exist in his world.