Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“I…” I don’t even think my brain hasn’t quite comprehended what he’s said yet. “I… I love him,” I whisper harshly.
Matteo leans in, a single finger tracing down the side of my cheek. “I know, sweetheart, which is why I’m giving you the chance to end things with him. Make him go away so that his death doesn’t rest on your shoulders because, I promise you, if you don’t make him leave, I will end him myself. The choice is yours, Daughter.”
The world beneath my feet shifts, and I grab onto the nearest chair to steady myself. Zane will die if I don’t make him leave, but making him leave isn’t going to be easy. It will mean breaking his heart. It will mean having to lie to him. Protecting him, will ultimately end everything that we have, and still, there isn’t a way around it. Matteo isn’t lying, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that he will kill Zane. We’ve been heading toward this scenario since the day he went to him to rescue me.
I have to do this because the alternative is so much worse.
“I understand,” I whisper to my father.
A smile splits across his face, and he nods. “I knew you would. You’re a smart girl, Dove.”
Before he walks away, I grab him by the arm. “Give me at least three days, please?”
Matteo looks as if he wants to say no but then opens his mouth to speak. “Three days. I’ll give you three days, but that is all my little bird.”
Little bird. The nickname causes a horrible reaction in my brain. The urge to vomit is strong. The mere thought of going without Zane terrifies me. It makes the game I’m playing more intense, more real, because with Zane out of the picture, the only person I’ll have to save me is myself. Forcing myself to take a couple calming breaths, I resurface, realizing that I still have to play the role of Castro’s obedient daughter.
For the next two hours, I think of Zane while forcing a smile onto my lips as my father parades me around like a trophy, and Alberto is slapped on the shoulder and told what a prize he snagged. By the time the sun starts setting, my father is two sheets to the wind and in a deep conversation with an allying family.
Slipping from the dining hall, I head toward the bathroom. It’s been hours since I last saw Zane, and I need to find him. Deep down, I know he wouldn’t leave me here. He knows I have nothing to do with this, though that wouldn’t stop him from acting out on his rage and jealousy.
Around the same time he disappeared, there was a commotion out in the garden. A man had beat the crap out of another man. Matteo’s men rushed out to break up the fight, but when they arrived, the other man was already gone.
Something tells me that was Zane, and all I can do is hope that he’s okay while I bide my time till I can go and find him. Walking into the bathroom, I plan to stay inside just long enough to get some of the guards off my tail, so I can start my search. Matteo’s men are vigilante as hell, and getting around them has been difficult, to say the least.
Placing my hands face down on the sink, I stare at my reflection in the mirror.
Can I really do this?
I nearly lost him once before, can I be the one to push him away, to end our perfect love story? Tears sting my eyes. This isn’t going to end well. Zane will see right through me, right through my lies, and deep into my soul. He’ll know I’m lying, and that something else is going on. I’ll have to look him right in the eyes and tell him I don’t love him anymore. That I don’t want him to be in my life. When that is as far from the truth as anything.
Letting him go is going to kill me, but there isn’t another option.
The minutes tick by slowly, and thankfully, no one else comes into the bathroom to witness my break down. I can’t possibly stay hidden in this bathroom all night. I have to find Zane and make sure he’s okay, but leaving this space is subjecting myself to the mayhem beyond these four walls.
Forcing myself to leave the bathroom, I turn and walk out the door. I make it all of ten feet down the hall, my heels clacking against the exquisite floor, before a hand clamps down on my shoulder and whirls me around.
The air expels from my lungs when I’m shoved against the nearest wall, and Alberto’s face comes into view.
“Hiding from me?” The whiskey on his breath tickles my nose, and I struggle against his firm grasp. His eyes are bloodshot, and I know after watching him for the last two hours, that he’s had more to drink than he should have.