Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“I’m not a girl.”
His lips twitch, almost as if he’s about to smile, but Jonathan doesn’t do those. Not really. “Yes, you are.”
“I’m twenty-seven.” I don’t know why I need that information out there.
Maybe it’s my brain’s way to remind me that he’s seventeen years older than me.
Or that my sister, the only person I still consider family, had him first.
Or that we’re in her room.
The fact that Jonathan kept her room as it was without attempting to get rid of anything means one thing: he’s not over her death.
That’s why he wants me. I’m his sick way of bringing Alicia back to life.
I hate him for putting me in this position.
I hate him for barging through doors even I didn’t have the keys to.
Most of all, I hate him. The man. The tyrant. The unfeeling bastard who couldn’t protect Alicia.
“I know your age.” He slips his hand back in his pocket. “I also know you’ve been a ghost since you were sixteen.”
I thin my lips even when my scar tingles underneath my clothes.
“How does it feel to be a ghost, Aurora?”
“Peaceful.”
“Is that how you spell fake?”
“I’m not fake.”
“Is that why you invented a whole new persona, new name, new background, and even new habits?”
“Do you have a point here?”
“Does your black belt friend know about Clarissa?”
“Don’t you dare, Jonathan.”
“I do not care for being threatened, so for that alone, I might drop in unannounced and tell her.”
“Jonathan…d-don’t…” I’m ready to beg him, but I know that won’t work. Layla and her family need to stay the fuck away from my past. I can’t counter their kindness with malice.
“She’s a Muslim, no? Do you know their take on murderers and accomplices?”
“I’m not an accomplice.”
“Then what are you?” His voice drops in range. “Why did you disappear?”
“Because I needed a rebirth.”
17
Jonathan
A rebirth.
Fascinating.
I stare down at Aurora’s defiant gaze, but I don’t see the façade she’s spent so long perfecting.
I don’t see her stand-offish reaction to me or how she challenges me like it’s her favourite sport.
Now, I see the girl who hid behind her sister’s dress. The girl who was innocent and then was tarnished so badly that she wished for a rebirth.
But she didn’t only wish for it. She made it happen.
Or so she thinks.
Even as a grown-up, there’s still a spark in Aurora’s eyes. Granted, it’s not the same as the brightness of that little girl’s. It’s almost like an update — a second version of sorts.
She thinks she’s had a rebirth, though.
That is fascinating.
People’s misconceptions about themselves or the world surrounding them is a form of weakness I latch onto without mercy.
But this one?
This one will be more interesting to explore. I’m going to dig my fingers into Aurora and unravel her thread by each tangled thread.
It started with my hand on her soft skin last night, and what soft skin it was. My cock twitches at the remembrance of my red handprint on her pale flesh and how she held on to me as her body proved to be the opposite of dead.
This will end with her falling at her knees in front of me.
Willingly. Without a fight.
“Have you paid your debts, Aurora?”
She straightens, her long, delicate throat turning rigid with the motion. A throat that will have my hand wrapped around it soon. “Debts?”
“Surely you know that even with rebirths, the current life carries the legacy of previous lives. It’s called karma. If you screwed someone over, you’ll pay in full during the following life.”
“You…you believe in rebirths?” Her full lips part. They’re still not red, but the pink colour coupled with the hitching of her breath sends energy straight to my groin.
My dick strains against the confines of my trousers, demanding to thrust inside that mouth and fuck those lips. Since he didn’t get his turn last night, it’s making him even more riled up.
Soon, though.
I’ll keep reviving that dead body and watch it fall apart by my own hands.
That’s my form of rebirth.
“You do,” I say. “I’m explaining it from your perspective.”
She lifts her chin, but it trembles as she speaks, “I’ve done nothing to pay for.”
Guilt. Fascinating again.
She feels guilty. But for what? For taking a stand? Does she regret being the reason she had to disappear?
Aurora Harper is nothing as she seems, and I’ll take my sweet time breaking her apart and peering inside that well-strapped armour.
“Dinner time.” I turn around and leave.
I need out of this room.
It should’ve been destroyed a long time ago, but I kept it as a reminder of what it feels like to lose.
Since then, all I’ve ever done is win.
Aurora follows soon after. From my peripheral vision, I catch a glance of her gazing at the door of Alicia’s room with a nostalgic, almost tearful expression.
After rebirth, people tend to never look back. To pretend like they’re newly born.