Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I take a step back. “You’re making a mistake,” I say slowly. “My men won’t accept this.”
“They know where the real power comes from.” My father sits back down slowly. “The girl disappears. You will divorce her. I’ll find you a new match, and you’d better hope you learned your lesson. This is fucking embarrassing, Finn, and the Crowley family cannot ever be embarrassed. Do you understand me? We cannot look weak.”
I turn from him, head spinning. Send her away? Make Dara disappear? I can’t do it, not after we decided to give our relationship a real chance.
But what other choice do I have? Run with her somewhere my father can’t touch us? It’s possible, but that would expose my soldiers and everyone I care about here to my father’s revenge. He’ll hurt them, possibly kill them. I don’t even want to guess what he’d do to Genna.
“Do you hear me?” Dad shouts at me as I leave. I’m running possibilities, but none of them are good. Keep Dara here and she’ll basically be stuck inside, never able to leave for fear of my father trying to hurt her. Send her away and she might be safe, but that will kill me in ways I don’t think I’ll ever recover from.
There’s no good scenario.
“You’d better send her the fuck away!” Dad shouts as I walk down the hallway, feeling numb.
I drift outside. I can’t stomach losing Dara, but I can’t risk keeping her here, either. I’m fucked, no matter what I do.
Carson’s leaning against a pillar out front. “You look about how I expected,” he says. “What’d he say?”
“Thanks for keeping an eye on her,” I mutter at him as I pass.
Carson only watches me as I approach the car, feeling like my limbs are lead.
Dara opens the door. She steps out, looking terrified as she runs to meet me, her hands outstretched like she wants me to take her into my arms.
And I need it.
I want to pull her close and hold her tight, but I stop before I can touch her.
I stop and it breaks my fucking heart.
“Wait,” I say and she skids to a halt, her face falling.
She must see it in my expression.
The horrible decision I just made.
Like a knife in my own guts.
“What happened?” she asks. “What did he say?”
“You need to leave town.” I take out my wallet as a plan crystallizes.
“Leave town?” She sounds terrified. “Finn, what’s going on?”
“Take this.” I shove all my cash at her, nearly five hundred, plus my black Amex. “Do you have somewhere you can go? If not, find a random town as far from here as you can get and stay at a hotel. Use the cash. Try not to move around too much. I’ll find you.”
“Finn, I don’t understand.”
I step to her, grabbing her arms, and forcing the money and the credit card into her palm. “Take this, god damn it. I’ll tell the driver to get you straight to the airport. Buy new clothes at the terminal or wherever you end up.”
“This is insane. Why are you doing this?” She’s struggling against tears.
I take a beat. She’s terrified right now and I’m not making anything better by rushing her. But I also don’t want to wait too long, or else I might change my mind, and that would only hurt her more.
“My father wants you gone,” I say, speaking softly. “He wants me to divorce you.”
“Divorce? Gone?”
I shake my head. “I’m not going to do any of that. I made a vow, Dara, and I swear I won’t turn my back on it.”
She blinks back tears. “You won’t?”
“Fuck that and fuck him. You’re my wife, Dara, and that isn’t going to change. I need you to go somewhere safe, somewhere you can lie low while I fix this. I swear, I’m not sending you away forever, but you might not hear from me for a few weeks. Can you handle that?”
“I don’t know,” she whispers.
Her honesty breaks my heart all over again.
“I know you’re scared, but it’s okay. I promise, I’m doing what’s best for us right now. Leave town, go somewhere safe. Don’t contact me. If you do, they might be able to find you. Wait for me to send someone. Do you understand?”
“I don’t want to do this,” she says, holding my hands, her fingers trembling. “I want to stay with you.”
“You can’t, not right now. Please, Dara, get in the car and drive. Just trust me. Can you trust me?”
She stares into my eyes. I can see all the doubt, all the fear. This is what I wanted to protect her from by keeping her at a distance, but it’s too late—we made our choice, we got married, and we both decided to catch feelings.
There’s no turning back.
“I can do it,” she says, straightening up. “If this is what you think is best, I can handle it.”