Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 49388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
You can't choose your family, but you can kill them. Being a Crown comes with many responsibilities, but I chose to walk away from that life when I learned the truth about my family. The Calvert name is infamous in Tynewood, the small town with far too many secrets. And I wish I was never born with it.
I am Tarian Calvert, and I'm ready to severe ties to my family.
But there's one thing stopping me — Grecia Birchwood.
There's nothing going on between us. A platonic partnership. Until we break all the rules and spend a night together.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PLAYLIST
Back from the Dead - Skylar Grey, Big Sean, Travis Barker
Just a Lil Bit - 50 Cent
Baby - Bishop Briggs
Bloodstream - Transviolet
My Boo - Usher
Let it Be Me - Jennifer Lopez
Hear Me Now - Bad Wolves
How We Do - The Game
Never Tear Us Apart - Bishop Briggs
Find the playlist on Spotify
PROLOGUE
YASMINE
The things I did in the past are about to catch up to me.
I knew I couldn’t hide away from them forever.
Living in fear for most of my married life was something that took its toll. It forced me into situations I didn’t want to be in. I wanted a life filled with love, but the way I chose to get it wasn’t right.
I’m torn as to what I want to do now.
Do I try to rebuild a relationship with Tarian, or do I walk away forever?
The guilt I experienced when I killed his father, knowing I’d stolen such an important person from my son’s life, broke me. But I didn’t want to live with someone violent, and I always feared Theodore would end up hurting our son too.
Back then, I believed Tarian was old enough to survive without me, so I chose to be with Thane. When I returned to Tynewood, I decided not to show my son what he meant to me. I wanted him to hate me because I knew I deserved it, and I thought it would make it easier for him to continue without me.
I stare down at the piece of paper on the desk. I need to try to explain everything to Tarian in a letter. There isn’t any way I could say this to his face.
As I hold the pen, poised and ready to start writing, I blink back the tears.
Dear Tarian,
There is no easy way to explain the things I’ve done, and even though I’d like to ask you to forgive me so we can move on together, I know it’s not going to be possible.
Once you’ve read this letter, and the ones I’ve written to Thane and to your father, I hope you’ll be able to understand a little better why I did what I did.
Life can be cruel and unrelenting at times, and I spent most of your younger years hiding the truth from you. I wanted you to grow up knowing you were loved, even though no such emotion existed between your father and me.
I love you. I want and need you to know that.
Choosing to walk away from you wasn’t easy. I broke my own heart to keep you safe. I thought if you believed your father and I had died in an accident, you would mourn our loss and move on. Now I realize it was my own pain I was trying to recover from, and I ended up scarring you.
I’ve made so many mistakes. My choices have not always been right or moral. But I intend to rectify what I can.
You are far stronger and a much better person than your father, and I pray you treat those you love with compassion and loyalty. Do not follow in his footsteps or mine.
I promise all your questions will be answered in time.
My actions don’t demonstrate what you truly mean to me. I thought hating me would make it easier than knowing I loved you but still chose to walk away. I’m sorry for that.
Please don’t follow the Calvert path and become someone hateful and unworthy of love. I want you to choose your own path and be your own person. I want your life to be happy and fulfilled,
Even though I haven’t shown it in the last few years, I love you, and I always will.
Mom
I can’t go into more detail, but I want him to have something he can refer to in the coming years that reminds him he’s loved, unless he decides to burn it without reading it, of course.
The time has come for me to pay for my past mistakes. I’ve asked Thane to help me, like he’s done so many times before. I know he doesn’t love me as I do him, and that’s okay. I made my choice, and I must live with the consequences.
A mother’s decisions may not always be right, but her love endures. That’s what I’ve kept telling myself since the day I killed my husband, the father of my son, and walked away from Tynewood and my death. That was also the day I chose to sacrifice being a mother to Tarian.
Now I’ve returned to make sure my son is safe before I finally find peace.
CHAPTER 1
TARIAN
Four weeks ago
The moment I roll over and try to open my eyes, a thumping pain shoots through my skull.
Warmth sears my left-hand side, and finally managing to crack a lid, I see a naked woman sleeping beside me. She’s draped in a sheet, but it only covers her ass. Her back is smooth and tanned, and her long blonde hair is fanned across the pillow as she softly snores. I don’t know her name. She’s a stranger to me, and I want her gone.