Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
She thinks Kody and I are interested in that woman?
The thought makes me want to bend her over my knee.
Sirena might command attention with charm and a pretty face, but Frankie…she commands the soul.
Her beauty stands alone, an inner strength that radiates from within her, making her presence felt in every room she enters. Sirena has no hope of rivaling that.
“Yes.” Monty squares his shoulders, his eye contact stern. “She’s beautiful. Denying it would be ridiculous. But it has no bearing on the investigative work she provides. I tasked her with finding…” A shadow darkens his composed features. “Wolfson.”
“I know.” She steps forward, leaving a few feet between them. “You read the journal? All of it?”
“Yes.” He sweeps past her and strides to the window with deliberate, measured steps, each one broadcasting his control.
I recognize the action, the need to pace, the attempt to conceal the chaos within. I do the same damn thing right before my temper blows.
Adjusting my position, I put myself between him and Frankie. Kody edges closer, too.
“You destroyed your hotel room?” She steps to my side, gripping my forearm with both hands.
“Sirena has a big mouth.” He faces us, occupying his space without fidgeting or shifting, exuding a sense of belonging and confidence. “I’m…angry.” His voice carries a calm, cold tone, indicative of a man who knows how to fake it. “That doesn’t begin to describe what I’m feeling. But if you expect me to walk away from this, from us, you’re out of your mind.”
“You can fuck off with that right now.” Heat fumes from my lungs. “I’ll gladly help you fuck off, but you’ll be squatting to piss when I’m done.”
“Leo…” She digs her nails into my arm.
Monty ignores me. “I never let go of you, Frankie. Not even when I thought you quit me.” A quiet, guttural sound cracks his voice. “I didn’t let go. I tried once and failed. A useless attempt that I’ll regret for the rest of my life. Your reaction to seeing that video of me, the agonizing words you wrote about it, I’ll never stop relieving the pain I caused you.”
A shudder grips her, and she closes her eyes.
I seethe, hating this conversation. But if Frankie taught me anything, it’s the importance of honesty and communication, so I’ll bear this, goddammit, and be the silent support that she needs.
Kody is frozen beside me, an unmoving statue.
“I want to ask you to leave so I can talk to my wife alone.” Monty looks at Kody and me, enraging me with the wife reference. “I want to hate you for touching her. I want to beat your fucking faces until they’re unrecognizable. But I’m not going to do any of those things.” He stands taller. “You were there for her when I wasn’t. You were there when she needed me the most. So when the thought of you fucking her creeps into my head like a goddamn cancer, I hear her words on those pages, her pain and fear and loneliness, and I’m grateful she had you.”
A sharp burn ignites in my chest.
He steps closer, pinning his keen Wolfson eyes on me. “But if you ever threaten her or hurt her the way you did in those initial weeks, I will fucking gut you.”
A shiver runs down my spine. “I was wrong, and she made sure I wouldn’t forget it.”
“I know,” he rasps with a rough shake of his head. “I won’t forget it, either.”
I glance at her, at the flush crawling up her throat. She wrote about that day in the workshop? When she demanded I grovel and beg for forgiveness after I had my fingers inside her?
She meets my eyes and presses her lips together.
I really want to redden her fucking ass.
“I know your hatred of me is justified.” Monty clasps his hands behind his back, radiating chilling confidence as his gaze connects with hers. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for—”
“Monty, don’t—”
“—the hurtful things I said about pregnancy ruining your body and demanding you choose between your job and our child. I was desperate to give you any reason but the truth. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for every second you spent in the cabin, for every ounce of pain my actions and inactions caused you. I should’ve stayed home the day of our fight. I should’ve done a lot of things differently. I’m prepared to right my wrongs, heal your broken heart, and grovel, beg, and fight to win you back.”
She gasps. “Monty, no, I’m—”
“Don’t say anything. Just…let me help you.” He lifts his determined gaze to me and Kody. “All of you.”
Her shoulders slump. This is what she wants, and he’s offering it in the palm of his hand.
“I don’t trust you.” Kody steps forward.
“If you did, I would question how you survived my brother.” Monty draws a slow breath. “I realize that to earn back her trust, I must also earn yours.”