Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
“I am.”
There was a beat of silence. Then another one. Finally, Lottie cleared her throat. “Do you know how to do that?”
“It’s not that hard. I just follow Doctor Stanley’s instructions. Make sure she rests, eats, drinks, and doesn’t do too much. Not that she makes it easy. She continues to defy me at every turn.”
“She does?” Lottie asked.
There. She sounded suitably shocked. Because no one defied him.
“Wow. Brave girl.”
Foolish girl.
Sassy girl.
Sweet, gorgeous girl.
“How are you failing her, then? It sounds like you’re doing everything you can to take care of her.”
“She’s keeping things from me.”
More silence.
“Lottie?” he asked.
“People can have secrets for a reason, Regent.”
“There is no secret she’d need to keep that she couldn’t tell me. People aren’t supposed to have secrets from me.”
Especially Jilly.
But he didn’t say that because he couldn’t explain to Lottie exactly what Jilly meant to him.
He couldn’t tell anyone what she meant since he couldn’t even explain it to himself.
“Are you and Jilly . . . are you together?”
There was such hope in his sister’s voice that he hated to let her down.
“No. No, we’re not.”
“Oh.”
“Lottie, you know I can’t have a relationship.”
“Why not?”
“Because it would put the other person at risk.”
“I also know that you’d protect them. You wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt the woman you loved. You’re the most protective, ruthless, terrifying, powerful man I know.”
“Can you say that again in front of your husbands,” he said dryly.
“Regent,” she said. “Don’t change the subject. If you really want something, you find a way to make it happen. And you don’t let anyone else get in your way. I think the real reason you don’t want to fall in love is because you don’t think you deserve to be loved. But you do . . . more than anyone I know, you deserve to be happy. Please let yourself be happy.”
Half an hour after he ended the call, Lottie’s words were still rattling around in his head.
If he wanted something . . . no one stood in his way.
She was right. If someone he cared about was at risk, he always did whatever he could to keep them safe.
But keeping Jilly safe would mean . . . it would be totally uprooting her from her life. Restraining her. Would he smother her spirit?
Or was he making up excuses because he didn’t think he deserved to be happy?
Because he thought he was a monster like his father?
Fuck that shit.
Determination filled him. Would he be happy walking away from her? Never seeing her again? Could he stand to see her with someone else?
Considering he couldn’t even stand seeing her in pajamas that looked like they had belonged to another man . . . likely not.
At least if she was with him, he could keep her safe. She wouldn’t have empty cupboards, smoke alarms with no batteries, or a security light without a bulb. She wouldn’t be coming home in the middle of the night in a stranger’s car, wearing next to nothing with a high temperature.
Moving into the bedroom, he spotted the clothes she’d been wearing the other night. He had intended to get Gerald to wash them.
Or get rid of them entirely.
Picking up the hoodie, he frowned as something fell out of the pocket. Picking up the piece of paper, he didn’t even hesitate before checking what it said.
I know your secret.
And if you don’t want everyone to know . . . you’re going to have to buy my silence.
Ten thousand dollars.
What. The. Fuck.
After the threat, there were instructions on how to pay. The person wanted her to drop the money off next Sunday.
Well. They were going to be in for a surprise.
Because it wouldn’t be Jilly dropping that money off. And they would learn not to threaten his girl.
But what did it mean? What secret? What did she not want people to know? Something that she’d pay ten thousand dollars for them to keep to themselves?
It didn’t make a lot of sense. He’d known she was keeping something secret from him, but he hadn’t expected something like this.
Why would someone blackmail Jilly? It was obvious that things were tight for her. She didn’t have any spare cash.
Or was that why things were so tight? Because she was paying blackmail money?
Maybe this wasn’t the first time they’d sent her a note like this.
Why the hell hadn’t she told him?
She had to know he’d gladly take care of this for her.
Unless it was because she didn’t want to tell him the secret. Was that it? Whatever was going on . . . she knew he’d insist she tell him everything.
He glanced at the note again, turning it over. His stomach dropped as he saw the name written on the front.
Nyx.
He’d heard that name before. But where?
Glancing down at the floor, he spotted another piece of clothing. Bending over, he picked up a black negligee. It had threads of gold in it and was nearly see-through except for a couple of lined patches to cover the nipples and pussy.