Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I don’t know why you’re here,” I say, taking a few steps backward toward the couch.
“Oh, I think you do,” Apollo counters as he walks toward me slowly. He reminds me of a mountain lion stalking his prey—calculated, stealth-like, deadly. He stops when he stands directly in front of me. “I told you to go home.”
“I…I felt getting a hotel room would be better… Considering.”
A feral flash of his teeth nearly buckles my knees. “Considering.”
Blood courses chaotically through my veins. “You should be with your family. Grieving.”
He chuckles, which isn’t exactly the reaction that I expect. “You sure know how to change the mood of a funeral.” A small smirk lights up his face. “I prefer rage over sadness any day, so I guess I should thank you.”
“I didn’t know your father,” I begin, swallowing back the large lump in the back of my throat. “I didn’t expect for him to confront me like that at the funeral.”
“Did you think you could get away with it? Not get caught? You had to know we have cameras everywhere at Medusa Enterprises.”
“I expected you’d eventually find out,” I admit. Except every day that passed in which I didn’t get confronted was a day that built my confidence that I had indeed gotten away with it after all.
“And did you know there would be consequences? You had to know my father would demand consequences. That I would as well.”
Images of death flash before my eyes. “If I scream,” I begin.
“If you scream, then innocent people die. I have men in the hallways prepared to clean up any mess that should arise.” His eyes lock with mine, and for a moment I see…sadness. But then the look vanishes as quickly as it came, and his arms cross against his chest. “I hope to keep this as clean as possible. But that’s entirely up to you.”
I can hear the rapid beating of my heart in my ears. “I want you to leave right now.” My voice cracks as I issue the demand.
“Yes, well… We all want things in life, now don’t we?”
I steal another peek at my phone, wondering if it’s even possible to reach it and dial 911 before Apollo can stop me.
“You could try for the phone,” he says, never taking his eyes off me and somehow reading my mind, “but then things would get dirty.” He glances at me from head to toe with a devilish grin. “But maybe you like to get…dirty?”
“What are you going to do?” Asking the words seems to take whatever breath I have left in my body. I feel faint as I try to play out every scenario of what might happen to me in my head. The likelihood of me getting out of this situation alive seems less and less likely with every gruesome thought playing in my mind.
But this is my husband. My husband. Apollo wouldn’t kill me. Maybe his brother would, but he’s dead. His father would, but he’s not here. Even Athena would gladly slit my throat. But not Apollo. Not my husband.
Not answering my question, Apollo asks his own. “Why did you do it? Why go to the police with the video?”
“You know why.” I swallow hard.
“No. I don’t. Tell me.”
“I thought it would be my life raft. I wanted off the Godwin boat. You know this. You and your family wouldn’t allow me to leave. I simply wanted to leave,” I say softly, repositioning my weight from one bare foot to the other.
“I took—my brother took the fall for what you did.”
“You were supposed to take the fall,” I counter, my voice coming out screechy. “I turned you in. Not your brother. It’s not my fault you let Ares take the blame for killing that man.”
He doesn’t respond but seems to study every inch of my face. I feel as if he’s trying to read me, dive into my thoughts. His proximity and the way his eyes seem to devour every inch of my skin have me taking a few steps away from him.
Closer to the door.
Closer to my chance of making a run for it.
“Do you think I came here to kill you?” he growls as he takes slow, calculated steps toward me, closing the distance I just created between us.
He’s toying with me. He’s toying with me like a cat does with a mouse right before the kill.
“I don’t know why you’re here,” I say as I spin on my heels and bolt toward the door.
A sharp pain erupts in the back of my head.
Darkness.
Chapter
Eleven
Apollo
Never hit a woman. If my mother was still alive, she’d be livid with me for knocking Daphne out the way I did. Men do not abuse women. Not a pop to the face or anything that could mar a beautiful smile with bruises or blood. That’s not to say the men in my family didn’t discipline and punish when deserved, and we all have wicked ways of doing such acts. But we do not physically harm an innocent female in an act of uncontrolled violence. I don’t know all the ins and outs of the relationship my brother had with Daphne, but I can safely say he never beat her. The Godwin family has rules, and not beating a woman is one of them. My father has always been a ruthless son of a bitch. He goddamn tortured my mother at times…mentally. Not to mention what he did to his children. But never did he beat my mother. Never would he slap her face or punch her in a fit of rage. And yes… He was a man who raged.