Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 158(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 158(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
“Promise you won’t kill my mom and I'll marry you.”
“Deal,” he snaps instantly, holding his hand out. “Give it to me.” I slowly start to lower it away from my neck. Aidon moves faster than me, swiping it out of my hand and tossing it to the floor before he pins me to the wall. “Don’t you ever do that again. Do you hear me?”
“Let her go,” I hear my mom say.
“Never.” Aidon’s eyes stare into mine. This is so not the time to be getting turned on, but I can’t help my body's response to him, to the emotion I see on his face. He cares about me. I lick my lips. Aidon’s eyes drop there.
I tilt my head back, offering him my mouth. He takes it. The kiss is hard and almost punishing. I love it. I can feel his emotions in it. My fingers dig into his suit jacket, wanting him closer. For a moment I forget we’re in a room with other people. He pulls back from the kiss, dropping his forehead on to mine.
“What have you done to me?” He says it so low only I can hear him. I don’t think it’s really a question. “Are you ready now?” I nod my head. He takes my hand again.
“I’m going to marry him,” I tell my mom.
“Do you still not believe she is my daughter?” she asks Aidon.
“I believe you. You were willing to die for her.”
“Would you do the same?”
“Without hesitation.”
She stares at him for a moment. “There is one more thing you need to know.”
“Out with it. I should be married by now.” I have to fight a smile. I love the fact that he’s in a hurry to get us married.
“It’s about her father.” The mention of him not only snags Aidon’s attention but mine as well. Never once has she told me who my father is. “Her father is Jason Chu.”
Chapter 16
Aidon
Silence descends like a blanket, suffocating and hot. A couple of the crew can’t keep their gasps of shock quiet. I’d like to fold, too, but I can’t. Not with all these lives on the line. I haul a stunned Cora up to my side and turn to the priest.
“You can begin.”
“That’s all you have to say about this information?” Karin demands.
“He’s dead. What does it matter?” I glare at the priest. “Start the ceremony.”
Beside me, Cora is shaking, and whether it’s the shock of her parentage or the wedding itself or a post-adrenaline hangover from foolishly sticking the poison pen to her neck, I don’t know. I’ll sort it out later, once she’s no longer a Vieth.
“The ceremony,” I growl when I realize the priest has still not started. “Now.”
My words are accompanied by the cocking of a handgun. Good Kailler, still on my side for some things. The priest hurries through the vows. “Do you, Aidon Katsaros, take Cora Amber Vieth to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better—”
“I do. Move on.” I don’t need all these words, and I’m certain they are unnecessary for the marriage to be binding.
He clears his throat and turns to Cora. “Do you, Cora Vieth, take Aidon Katsaros to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do you part, according to the Lord’s holy ordinance, and thereto dost thou pledge yourself to Aidon?”
“I do,” she answers without anyone sticking a gun in anyone else’s face. The words were nice. I liked them. Richer and poorer, till death parts us, she pledges herself to me. Maybe I should’ve let him finish.
“And I pledge myself to you in all things,” I add as the priest fumbles to bring forward the rings.
Karin Vieth glowers but says nothing. She’s probably thinking that Cora will make a good widow. I place the ring, a giant five-carat flawless diamond on Cora’s left hand. Her face registers surprise when the priest hands her a ring for my hand.
“I didn’t think men wore these.”
“They usually take them off when they cheat on you, darling,” Karin says. “That’s why you’re used to not seeing them.”
“Since she’s not had a man before, I don’t know why she would have a personal knowledge base of who wears rings and when,” I say with no small irritation in my voice.
“Who said she’s never had a man before?” Karin taunts.
“Mom!” Cora interjects, throwing out an arm to stop me from charging her mother. “We all know I’m a virgin.” She blushes when she says this. “It’s part of my value.”
“I’d have you regardless,” I say. “It’d just be that I’d have to kill anyone who touched you before me, so you and your mother have done countless men a favor. They still live tonight because of your virgin state.”