Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“She’s not!”
My eyes went to Harlow, who was shivering next to me, her eyes desperately trying to catch Van Acker’s.
“She… She’s slept with someone,” Harlow managed to get out. “At the house, where we were. She told me herself!”
“Nonsense,” I muttered, staring at Amber. “No one has touched her. Why don’t you tell him, Amber?”
With her cheeks burning, the redhead turned to Harlow.
“I lied,” she whispered. “I wanted to be trained. I thought it would be easier for you to accept it.”
“Wonderful,” Van Acker said with a glint in his eyes.
Harlow was shaking so badly I had to reach over and steady her with my hand on her knee.
“That only leaves one girl,” I said kindly. “What do you think we should do about your daughter, Mr. Van Acker?”
“Carina,” he said simply, smiling at his frozen-to-the-spot daughter. “We were never close, were we?”
He sighed as if this upset him, before getting up from his seat and walking over to her. He pressed a cold, hard peck against her cheek. “He’ll take better care of you than I ever did.”
Carina’s eyes lit up and Harlow cried out in response as Van Acker moved on to Amber, extending his arm for her to take. She did, her little fingers shaking as he led her out of the room. She didn’t look back until they were almost gone, and then her eyes connected with Harlow’s for what might have been the last time. This time, her fear was really settling in, and I knew this wasn’t what she’d had in mind when she said she wanted to be sold. Not that I gave a shit. She’d helped my girl leave me, and my punishment was swift and cruel.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and after that, Van Acker shut the door behind them.
Harlow looked at me with her pained expression.
“Don’t,” she begged me, her words suddenly slurred. “Don’t let him.”
“Oh, I already have,” I smiled. “She’s bought and paid for. What a shame you didn’t say goodbye properly.”
A single tear slipped down Harlow’s cheek just as her last remaining friend tumbled to the floor, unconscious.
“Carina,” Harlow cried out weakly, but by then, she was just as woozy and light-headed as her. She turned her attention back to me, attempting to get up and falling to the floor instead. “What have you done?”
“What you deserve,” I told her plainly, slipping my gloves back on as she tumbled down. “What you made me do, Rose.”
Chapter 19
Rose
I woke up in the bed I had left only a few days ago, but it felt like a lifetime.
My eyes hurt from crying, and a look in the mirror revealed just how blotchy and pale I looked. I was mourning the loss of Amber, not knowing what would happen to her, and feeling increasingly more and more guilty about getting her in this whole damn mess. First, with Ellis taking her, then with Thorn swiftly enacting his revenge on her for lying and letting her get away. I was the reason she was now a prisoner. I was the only one to blame for her misfortune, and I knew I’d never forgive myself.
I knew by the dull ache in the back of my head that I’d been drugged again for the plane ride back to the mansion. But once I turned towards the window, I was shocked to find the bars over the glass gone.
Then again, why shouldn’t they be? Thorn had taught me a lesson, and now I knew full-well just how cruel he was. He had taken one of my friends captive and released the other in the arms of a man none of us seemed to know at all. And now, Carina was in this mess with me. I squeezed my eyes shut when I thought of her, hating myself for bringing her along into this mess. She was another innocent victim of Thorn and my love, and it seemed like the casualties would never stop.
Being back in the mansion, it was hard to believe I had been gone at all. Things seemed like they hadn’t changed, and apart from the missing bars, it felt like I’d never been gone at all.
Still, I knew the absence of Amber would hit me hard, just as hard as my worries about her whereabouts.
Like clockwork, at 8 a.m. sharp, the door opened, and a silent maid entered with my breakfast. I sat down and ate obediently, then spent hours sitting on my bed, staring out at the beautiful beach below me and waiting for the inevitable.
I felt his presence the second he entered the room. His scent was dark and masculine, and I turned my head to face him as he drew nearer. He stood next to my bed and touched his palm to my cheek, stroking me gently. I leaned into his touch and hated him, but not as much as I hated myself for needing his comforting.