Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Please let it not be too late.
Marcus tried reaching for her again, but this time it was Jaak who shoved him off. “You’ve made her cry enough, Ravelli.” Turning away, the Dutch billionaire motioned for his security team to take his sister to his car. He didn’t give a damn if he was interfering – he’d had enough of seeing this man destroy his baby girl, over and over.
“Mind your own fucking business, de Konigh.” Marcus shoved past Jaak and tried reaching for Anneke again, but her brother once again blocked his way.
Behind Jaak, he saw Anneke turn to look at him—-
She was looking at him as if it was the last time she would see him again.
And her lips moved ever so slowly.
Goodbye.
No. No. No.
And Marcus snapped.
He threw a punch at Jaak, taking the other man by surprise, and as Jaak staggered back a step, Marcus charged past him to reach for Anneke.
His fingers grazed her back.
“Anne—-”
But she didn’t even look at him.
Jaak came back at Marcus, shoving him away, but even so he tried going after her, shouting her name.
“Anneke!”
She stepped inside the car without looking back.
“Get her out of here,” Jaak roared.
And it was all over.
No. No. Oh, fuck no—-
Even knowing it was impossible, he ran after the car, shouting her name over and over. “Please, Anneke, please, Anneke, please.”
The car picked up speed.
“Anneke!”
The agonized cry was torn out of him as Marcus fell to his knees.
His eyes closed.
And he missed that one moment Anneke turned around to look at him through the car window, the sound of her name on his lips making her weep silently.
Marcus.
Marcus.
Marcus.
One
Her first few days back home sailed past on a blank sea of numbness. Anneke found herself staring sightlessly outside the windows of her apartment, unable to appreciate all the little things that she used to cherish. The way raindrops turned the city into an artistic blur, the vivid reflection of historical buildings on the canal’s waters, the faint but comforting noise of footsteps and laughter outside her apartment – all these things were proof that the world was still turning, and she had loved that. It had made her smile.
But it was different now.
The magic was gone. Nothing was beautiful. And she was lost.
When a week had gone past and she still couldn’t feel, Anneke’s pragmatic side asserted itself and she decided enough was enough. Showing up at work, she steeled herself for curious glances and nosy questions, but it took only a few minutes for her to realize that she had underestimated Willem’s powers of manipulation.
Apparently, everyone believed that Anneke had been down with the flu the entire week, and with the exception of her siblings, no one seemed to know she had done a Britney in Vegas.
When she met her eldest brother in the conference room for their regular meeting with the board, she could only look at him, knowing he’d understand even if it were only her heart speaking the words.
Thank you.
To which Willem only inclined his head, as if telling her she should have known better than to think he’d let his baby sister worry about anything.
Oh, if only.
A part of Anneke truly wanted to go back to being a child. To pretend that she was helpless and let her big bad wolf of a brother solve everything. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t and would never be like that.
And so life continued to march on, with Anneke determined not to let the fact that she was still Mrs. Ravelli bother her. She would get around to filing for divorce...in time. But for now, she decided to focus all her attention back on work. She poured all of her energy to it, and when DKE wasn’t enough to stave the growing numbness inside of her, she sought the company of other people.
She went out with her family, her friends, and said ‘yes’ to anyone who asked her out. She made sure there wasn’t a second she was alone, made sure that she never went home until she was bone-tired and just about to crash. But somehow it still wasn’t enough.
On the second month following her separation, Jaak asked if he could talk to her about Marcus. She told him no. As much as she loved him – as much as she was grateful for his help that day – this was one thing she would never budge on.
To speak of it was to relive the pain, and she couldn’t risk that.
Even though her marriage to Marcus Ravelli had barely lasted a day, even though she had only one summer of bittersweet memories of him, it was enough. Oh God, but it was more than enough to make her wake up at night, her face wet with tears, her body cold and trembling, and her heart so badly shattered it was a miracle it could still beat.