Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I shake it off and force myself to keep walking, despite wanting nothing more than to grab her and kiss her right there on the spot. It wouldn’t be right. She isn’t ready yet. She’s still guilty. She cannot be mine until she’s no longer consumed by sin.
“What is this place?” Amelia asks as we move back into the woods.
“The Isle of Judgment,” I reply, scaling up the rocks.
I reach out with a hand to help her up, but she leans back, her eyes like a hawk. “Isle of Judgment?”
I expect she’ll laugh about that name, but I wasn’t the one who came up with it. My family has owned this property for generations.
“This is an island?”
Well, that’s not the question I was expecting, but I’ll take it.
A smirk spreads across my lips as I grasp her arm and pull her up to me, her body crashing into mine. “Yes, an island surrounded by water. There is no way to get off this island. No way … unless you do exactly as I tell you.” I cup her face and make her look at me. “You’ll be a good little angel from now on, won’t you?”
Her muscles tug at her top lip, her body straining against mine as she fights the idea of giving up control. But it is already far too late for that.
Suddenly, she loses her footing, and the rock beneath her foot crumbles. She almost falls, but I catch her just in time and pull her back. Her body is tight against mine, her face pressed against my chest.
“I’m curious …” I say, and I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her even closer. “How did you manage to get out of your room?”
“Like I’d ever tell you,” she hisses, narrowing her eyes.
“I think you will,” I murmur as I lean in. “By the time I’m done with you.”
Her whole body shudders, and I can almost taste the rage seeping from her lips, begging me to kiss and fuck them all at the same time. Because even when she says those things, her body leans closer to mine and her lips tremble with greed.
But now is not the time.
I grab her arm and drag her back with me. “Come. We’re going home.”
It takes a while for us to get back to the House, especially when she digs her heels into the dirt several times, to no avail. Nothing will stop me from bringing her back to my domain where she belongs.
The longer it takes to convince her of her sins, the more she’s starting to struggle. It’s about time I pulled the trigger and really showed her what I’m capable of. What I’m willing to do to get her to confess.
I bring her inside and shut the doors tightly. The light wanes from her eyes like curtains closing in front of a window. I take her upstairs and ignore the guard pleading for mercy as he stands near the stairs. I will deal with him later.
I push Amelia forward until she’s back in her room, which has been tidied as much as possible by my assistants, including Mary.
“It will take a while to clear up the mess you made,” I say as I take off the cuffs.
After rubbing her wrists, she stands in the middle of the room and stares at the broken mirror. The guard I found on my way to her had a piece of it lodged inside his neck where he lay there, bleeding out.
Her bloodied hands rise, and she gazes at them, shivering harder and harder.
I should leave. I shouldn’t be here to witness the unraveling of the only girl who has ever managed to persuade me to care. But I am, and I cannot stop myself from stepping closer.
“I didn’t mean to kill him,” she whispers.
I place a hand on her shoulder. The air in the room grows thick with unspoken words.
When the moment has passed, Amelia sighs, tears filling her eyes.
“Tell me what you’re thinking about,” I say. “You can speak freely.”
She looks down at her feet. “Anything I do or say will cause punishment. Either to me or to others. It is all my fault. My fault he died. My fault that Anna almost …”
“Every action has a consequence,” I interject.
She averts her eyes. “You said that before, and I didn’t believe you …”
“I was only trying to warn you,” I say, sighing when the tear rolls down her cheek.
I slowly spin her on her heels and make her look at me. I pick up the tear with my thumb and look at it for a moment, wondering how such a little droplet of water can have such immense effects on one’s soul. And more specifically, mine.
Which is why it hurts so much to say this. “But I cannot let this go.”