Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
And the smirk slowly growing on his face makes my whole body burn with heat.
“I heard that.”
In my embarrassment, I grab a bunch of pancakes off the stack, cut off too much, and shove it into my mouth hole so I can give him a snooty look. Instead, the taste of the pancakes has me pausing mid-bite as I’m overwhelmed with the sensations.
God, I don’t think I’ve ever had anything tastier than this.
I swallow it and take a sip of the freshly squeezed orange juice, which is equally delicious.
“I told you, you’d like it,” he says, smugly leaning on the table with his elbow.
My nostrils flare, but I can barely stomach another swallow without tears welling up in my eyes. I put down my fork and turn away from him.
“Are you crying?” he asks.
I swiftly wipe them away. “Don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not.” He chuckles. “Though, having a girl cry over the taste of my food instead of the size of my cock is a new one for me.”
Oh my God.
“You think it’s all a joke, but it’s not. You don’t know what I’ve had to do to get food, and it never tasted this good,” I growl.
I take another bite of the food before he decides to take it all away again. But the sudden change on his face catches me off guard. It’s almost as if his gaze has … softened.
“You don’t have to gobble it down. It’s not going anywhere,” he says. “Not until you’re full.”
By the time I’ve eaten half the stack, it finally dawns on me that all of this could just as well be another way to manipulate me into compliance. Make me his plaything. That’s all he wants, right?
And if Cora ever gets a taste of this … she might never want to leave.
I scoot back my chair. “I’m done.”
He frowns. “Already? You haven’t even tried the rest.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, running my tongue along my teeth.
He tilts his head. “Why are you being hunted down, and what did those men want from you?”
My eye twitches. I still refuse to answer.
“Fine. Another question. What was that red flower doing in Cora’s hand?”
I frown. “What fl—”
My pupils dilate, and I interrupt my own words.
Is he talking about that plastic flower from his little box under the bed?
“I … gave it to her. It seemed cheap. Meaningless.”
“It wasn’t,” he scoffs. “Yet you told me you gave it to a random girl.”
“Why is it so important to you?”
“So many questions we both refuse to answer,” he says.
Shit. He got me there.
Suddenly, Heath enters the room, and I don’t get the answer to the question burning in the back of my mind. He stops in the middle of the dining room when he sees Silas’s burning gaze.
“Uhh … am I interrupting something?”
“Didn’t get the message?” Silas grits.
“No, I don’t check my messages in the morning.” Heath yawns. “Not before breakfast.”
Silas rolls his eyes. “Figures.”
Guess we’re not alone after all.
“What? I’m hungry.” He sits down on the chair beside me. “Jesus, that is one order you placed, Silas.”
“I didn’t want our guests to go hungry,” Silas replies.
“We should have guests more often,” Heath jokes, putting a bunch of bacon and eggs on his plate as well as some fruit. “This all looks delish.” His eyes suddenly find mine after he’s checked my plate. “Aren’t you going to eat that?”
My cheeks flush. “I’ve had a bite.”
“You need some more to fill up those bony cheeks, twig,” Silas says.
Bony cheeks?!
I make a face at him, but he just stares back like he doesn’t even care.
“And I don’t mean your smile,” he adds with a grin.
Just before I flip him off, Max enters the room, breaking my train of thought with his happy, “Morning, everyone!”
He looks at me, then at Silas, and briefly at Heath before sitting down on the other end of the table, far away from Heath.
“What is this, a grand buffet on a cruise?” Max says. “This looks amazing!”
“Silas went all out,” Heath replies.
But Max won’t look at him and keeps readjusting his cutlery and the plates like he doesn’t know where to look until he finds me. “Sleep well?”
“Amazing, thanks,” I reply. “You?”
“Never slept better.” He stretches. “Though, I’m a bit worried about all those bodies we left in the street.”
“I have it covered. I called one of my mom’s men. He owes me one,” Silas says.
“One?” Heath pauses with shoveling down the bacon. “You think one guy is gonna fix all of this?”
“I know my mom’s men. They know how to get a job done discreetly.”
“Your mom?” I mutter. “Penelope?”
“What about her?” he asks.
“She has men to clean up bodies?”
“His grandpa is an underground Mafia hunter. Takes money from the rich and gives back to people in need. A notorious hater of everything criminal,” Heath explains. “She inherited his business.” He makes quotation marks with his fingers.