Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
She was sitting in the yard with Faith, the woman who was so sweet, who doted on her son, Jonah.
“Oh, my brave little boy has made a bit of a stink.” Faith let out a raspberry.
Dinah watched as she put the boy on the blanket in front of her and started to remove his diaper. She wrinkled her nose, because it did stink.
“How are you holding up?” Faith asked.
Apart from the finger, and her thigh having also been stitched, there was some bruising still coming out on her body.
“Oh, you mean because my life has been turned upside down, and I don’t really know what to do anymore, and it’s no longer safe for me to do my job? Yeah, I’m peachy.”
She wasn’t. Far from it.
“I detect a lot of sarcasm,” Faith said.
She rubbed at her temple. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to get angry with you. I’m not really getting angry with anyone, I’m just trying to, you know, I don’t know, think of the positive, and right now there’s nothing.” She pressed her lips together and felt like she was going to burst into tears.
Road also didn’t help. He was always close. She wanted to hate him, and part of her did, but another part was so grateful he came to save her. He didn’t have to, and he did, and she loved him for it.
She wanted to cry for that as well. Instead, she kept the tears locked up because she was so confused by what had happened. She also had not been able to go and see her mother’s grave, which pissed her off a great deal. It wasn’t like her mother could offer her any advice, but it would have been nice to get some.
To add to that, she’d also been suffering a little sickness in the mornings. She wasn’t a fool and knew exactly what that was, but she hadn’t said anything to anyone. The room she’d been given to stay in had its own en-suite bathroom. No one knew she’d been throwing up in the mornings.
She was pregnant. Carrying Road’s baby.
This was not how she saw her life.
“You know, it’s okay to cry,” Faith said.
“I don’t think I can because once I start, I won’t be able to stop.”
“Did Road ever tell you how Brute and I got together?”
“No.”
“Brute kidnapped me. He got a guy to lure me here so he could start negotiations with my grandfather, Sergey Golubev.”
Dinah had known this woman was related to Nikki by their hospital visit. Seeing as Nikki was Golubev’s son, it made sense that Sergey was this woman’s grandfather, and even though she knew that, it didn’t make any sense to her. Sergey was a monster, and this woman was a sweetheart.
This didn’t seem right to her.
“And yet, Brute is now your husband,” Dinah said.
“Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of things that happened in between. I mean, yeah, Brute wasn’t very nice, and I wasn’t allowed to shower, and toilet breaks were another thing entirely. Either way, he also traded me for Tank.” Faith pointed toward one of the guys who was sitting alone. “With what my grandfather did to him, it was worth it. Did I mention I was also due to marry a guy who I think might have also been into child trafficking, but again, I don’t know the intricacies of it.”
“Wow,” Dinah said. This was a lot to take in.
“I know, but I guess what I’m saying to you is, you cared for Road once, and you looked forward to him arriving, didn’t you?”
“This is a little different than Brute,” Dinah said.
“How different?”
“Road followed Sergey’s orders and organized the attack on my mother that scarred her face and ruined her life,” Dinah said.
“Oh,” Faith said.
“Yeah, oh.”
“I think you’re mistaking why I’m saying ‘oh.’ My grandfather’s evil knows no bounds. I don’t even know why I’m shocked by it, but I also understand what Road did. I get it, but you’ve been at the mercy of my grandfather.”
Tears filled Dinah’s eyes.
“You also know that happened to Road as well. I know it wasn’t your mother that caused Road’s scars, but even still, after all his loyalty to my grandfather, look what he did to Road.”
“You’re not making this easy.”
“I don’t think love and relationships are easy.”
“I don’t love him,” Dinah said.
“I think you do. It wouldn’t hurt quite so much if you didn’t.”
Jonah started to fuss.
“Excuse me, I’ve got to feed Jonah and put him down for his nap. We’ll talk soon.”
Dinah nodded and watched as Faith picked up her son and made her way into the clubhouse. She wasn’t even surprised to see Brute already waiting for his wife. The two were inseparable.
“We’ve all worked for Sergey.”
At the masculine voice, Dinah jumped and placed a hand over her chest. “You scared me.”