Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
It all should’ve been done,
but
Benny decided otherwise.
“I want you to enjoy your evening with my daughter.” Benny’s voice disturbed my thoughts. “Enjoy every last hour, and then you say good-bye.” He checked his watch. “I won’t even be mean and say midnight. I’ll give you until eight tomorrow morning to get as far away from Jasmine as possible.”
I slung my mask on the floor. “Stop this!”
“I’m not done talking.” Benny raised his finger. “I love you, Jasmine, but I’ll kill him. Do you need proof? Because your proof is behind me. Move on from him.”
“Don’t. Even. Talk. To. Jasmine.” Chase stepped toward him.
His guards came in closer and raised their guns back at Benny’s forehead. My dad’s men raised their guns, too; every point targeted Chase.
My words came out as a plea. “Benny, don’t do this to me. You’ve caused enough pain. Please, don’t do this.”
“I told you I wouldn’t hurt him tonight. I’m giving you this great evening to say good-bye. But that’s what it’ll be, good-bye.”
“Benny, I-I love him. I can’t just—”
Benny backed up and raised his hands. “Good evening. May we all make it through the week.”
Without even giving the guards and their guns another look, he walked off, and his men left with him.
Chase tore the mask off his face and threw it on the floor. “Get Lucy’s body down from there! Now!”
His men put up their guns and raced away. Chaos ensued all over the place. Everyone was making their way out of the ballroom. Most rushed and pushed. Women cried into their mate’s shoulders.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” I tried to hug Chase, but he moved my hands away.
“I can’t touch you right now.”
I froze with my hand in mid-air.
“I can’t ... touch you while his death is all around us. I don’t want you around this mess.” He buried his face into his hands and exhaled. “I have to take care of this. You go home. Wait for me—”
“No, I’m not going anywhere. I can handle this.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Damn it, Jasmine. Not tonight.”
I took his hands away and kissed each finger, every last one. “Lucy meant the world to you. I can deal with all of this. You both grew up together. You saved her from an unspeakable act. You saved her from many things.”
“I didn’t save Lucy from Benny.”
“You tried.” I pulled Chase into my arms and held him close to me as noise continued to rise all around us. “You tried, baby. You really did. This isn’t your fault. Go home.”
“No—”
“Chase, I can handle this.” I let him go and signaled for a guard to come to him. “You go home, start a bath, and by the time you get inside the warm water I’ll be there. I can take care of this. It’s just orders and making sure that those who follow orders get it done.”
“Jasmine, I can’t—”
“Go. Remember,” my bottom lip shivered, “you’re the king of the day. A king shouldn’t have to deal with this. Go home, please.”
He sighed and turned his view to Lucy’s dead body. “I know what Benny was trying to say.”
“What?”
“The metaphor.”
“Fuck Benny and his sick metaphor.”
“Lucy in the sky with diamonds,” Chase muttered.
“I don’t understand.”
“That’s the title of a Beatles’s song. Lucy in the sky with diamonds.” A tear fell from one of Chase’s eyes. “John Lennon wrote it.”
“Go home, baby.”
Chapter 3
Chase
A crescent moon cut through the darkness. No stars lingered along glowing clouds. No owls hooted. Only the crickets chirped.
I can’t lose Jasmine.
In candlelit shadows, I sat in my bath tub. Clumps of bubbles floated on rippling water. Steam rose. Though hot water warmed my skin, cold darkness twisted inside me. I didn’t save Lucy from Benny. I cupped up water with my hands and poured it over my face. Warm liquid streamed down, traveling along my cheeks and dripping away at my jaw.
My phone rang. I checked the screen. My dad’s face came up. He’d probably already heard the news of Lucy. He’d want to berate me, scream into the phone, and tell me yet again that I’d lost control of my emotions. He didn’t just hate my union with Jasmine because she didn’t possess money, it scared him that she was Benny’s daughter.
Once they announced Lucy’s name on the news, the cops would be coming for me and asking questions, things that my father wouldn’t want to discuss. I’d assured him that Dawn’s death wouldn’t provide us with any problems. The cops already suspected me for my past girlfriends’ deaths. I would be the first person they’d be interested in, once they realized my connection to Lucy. No doubt I had an alibi for whenever Benny killed her. Jasmine and I spent every moment together, and the few times we weren’t in the same space, I sat in my office working.
Dad would want to get rid of Benny, and he’d push my leaving Jasmine alone. Although I ran our corporations, he still held a tight rein whenever our money appeared threatened. He would be a problem now, but if I didn’t fix this mess quick, he’d jump on my back, dig his claws into my flesh, and not stop torturing me until she was gone.