Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
I flattened my lips, unamused.
Still, she couldn’t stop laughing.
I ambled to the door, taking my sweet time, giving her the opportunity to stop me.
She did.
“Wait.” More giggles. “Has anyone ever told you that you can be a real gentleman when you want to be?”
“God, no.” I spun, raising a brow at her. “And don’t tell the others. This won’t be a reoccurrence.”
“Zach?”
“Yes, Octi?”
“Tell me something interesting about the octopus.”
I didn’t have to think hard. I’d stored these fun facts in my brain especially for her, because I knew she liked them.
“Octopuses are such intelligent, cerebrally superior creatures that, when devoid of mental stimulation, they become so distressed, they resort to autophagy and eat their own appendages.”
She blinked, staring at me with her head cocked. “I’ll ask again—couldn’t I be a kitten?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you are spectacular, intelligent, and different. Not a cliché.”
She tucked her lower lip in her mouth, delicious pink creeping up her cheeks. Her breaths came out heavier.
We were treading deep into something that would end in utter destruction.
“Zach?” she asked again.
“Yes, Octi?” I replied again.
“What happens next?”
“For my next act…” I grabbed her hand and helped her up. “I’m going to burn down the world for you.”
Ibroke protocol.
The protocol? Do not engage with humans unless absolutely necessary.
Simple enough.
Yet, I found myself cornering Vera Ballantine in a dark alleyway like a mobster cliché.
I told myself she’d practically invited me, since she’d made herself easy to find. With geo-tagged selfies plastered on three different social media platforms and backup reservations under each of her subpar daughters’ names.
They’d chosen to dine at one of those god-awful genre-confused “oriental” restaurants that managed to convince influencers their food didn’t suck. The type that served sushi, pad thai, and pho under the same roof.
I hid in a narrow passageway, waiting for them to finish. The last thing I needed was to be plastered on a gossip rag.
About an hour after I’d arrived, Regina and Tabitha hung back inside the restaurant while their mother poured outside to ask the valet for her Mercedes.
Vera slipped into the alleyway, producing a cigarette from her Gucci purse.
The second the orange embers of her cancer stick glowed, I pressed the tip of my knife to her lower back, still hiding in the shadows.
She gasped, trying to turn. “What the—”
I burrowed the blade deeper into her back, forcing her body to slam against the wall face-first. “No need to turn, Vera. I’d like to eat dinner tonight, and your face is a prescription-grade appetite suppressant.”
She gulped, her cheek digging into the rough bricks. “Zachary Sun?”
“Listen carefully.” I ignored her question, knowing she couldn’t see me, especially in the dark. “Your existence is currently a terrible inconvenience for me. Stop messing with your stepdaughter.”
“Farrow?” She leaned back before remembering the knife. “That girl ruined my life. She’s trying to take me dow—”
“I didn’t ask for a TED talk. I gave you specific instructions. Don’t you dare mess with her. Not now. Not in the future. No matter the outcome of your dispute.” I slanted the knife, taunting her with its blade. “Farrow Ballantine is under my protection. You know who I am. You know what I’m capable of.”
Farrow will come out of this victorious if it’s the last thing I do with my life.
I needed to ensure Vera didn’t attack her afterwards. I didn’t intend on sticking around my maid to find out.
Vera tried to turn again, seconds from stomping her feet. “You don’t understand.”
In the background, the valet asked his coworker where she’d gone.
Her cigarette fell from her shaky fingers to the pavement. “I’m going to be penniless—”
“I do understand. Perfectly so. I just couldn’t care less. Farrow Ballantine is officially off-limits to you. Tamper with her life one more time, and I assure you, I will take yours.”
“You’ll never kill me.” A wretched laugh tumbled out of her throat. She tried to turn again, but this time, I curved the knife to the side of her throat, losing patience. “You won’t risk your life for that white trash.”
“You and I are not the same, Vera. I don’t answer to the law. Ruining you is as easy as ordering takeout.”
“Mr. Sun—”
I cut her off, refusing to confirm my identity, knowing she could never prove her suspicions. “I consider myself a thorough person. When I’m done with you, I’ll move on to your daughters.”
“Please—”
“They’ll live in utter poverty, unable to marry anyone respectable. We both know they’re incapable of making it on their own.” I dug my heel into her cigarette, grinding it beneath my sole. It died with a hiss. “By the time I’m finished with your family, you’ll be sorry for the day you decided to form one and exclude Farrow from it.”
She sobbed, tears beginning to leak from her eyes. “You’re evil.”
The valet boys got impatient, calling out her name. One of them asked the other to run into the restaurant and fetch her daughters.