Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
It's a powerful temptation. Overwhelmingly so. But even if I walk away, I'm not free. It'll just be an illusion. The threat of my uncle still hangs over my head like a sword. He's the specter haunting my future. That doesn't change just because I'm out in the world on my own.
I need Domani. He's my one shot at true freedom, and he knows I know it. That's why he isn't afraid I'll run. I need him. I need the man he is and the things he's done. I need his brutal savagery, and the blood on his hands. If I'm ever going to be free of my uncle…I need this man to kill him.
I guess if he's a monster, so am I.
I start walking after him. He pauses a few feet ahead and waits for me to catch up.
"You didn't run," he says when I make it to his side.
"To where? It's not like I have anywhere else to go."
Domani grunts but doesn't say anything.
We walk in silence for several moments. The forest is still, but it isn't quiet. Small sounds echo around us. The rustling of wind through the leaves. The chatter of birds. The chirp of instincts. There are a dozen different sounds, all making up a song I haven't heard in years. It's beautiful. I'd forgotten how much. But it isn't soothing.
My soul is scraped raw; my wounds laid bare.
"So long as he's alive, I'll never be free, Domani," I whisper.
"His life was over the moment I saw the rope burn on your wrist, mio sole." He tips his head down to look at me, his eyes hard and dark. Malevolent. "He'll pay in blood for what he's done, this I promise."
I slip my hand into his, hopeful and sad at the same time. I loved my uncle once upon a time. He was my hero after my dad died. But the thing about heroes? Eventually, you realize they're all too human, invariably possessed of the same faults, flaws, and foibles as the rest of us. My uncle's faults are many and massive. He isn't a good man. He never was. He was just good at pretending.
A few minutes later, the cabin comes into view ahead, nestled in the dead center of a clearing. The trees just stop suddenly on all sides, leaving the cabin completely exposed. A creek cuts through the property on the far side, but the rest is grassy. The single-story log cabin itself is charming and adorable, like a little fairytale cottage plucked for a storybook. An attached garage is situated to the left. It's not at all something I would have associated with Domani Brambilla.
"This is yours?" I ask, craning my head back to look up at him.
"It is."
"Wow."
"You like it?"
"I love it," I whisper, hurrying my steps.
Domani halts me. "Slow, mio sole. I want to make sure everything is all right first."
I stop walking to look up at him. He's staring at the cabin, but he seems tense, more than he has all day. He likes his precautions, but I don't think this is one of those. It's something else. Something happened while I was sleeping. "They know I'm missing, don't they?"
"They do," he says without looking at me.
"Do they know you took me?"
The fact that he doesn't answer me is answer enough.
"I'm going to throw up," I whisper, crouching beside a tree as a wave of nausea climbs up my throat. I fight it back, refusing to vomit in front of this man. Refusing to panic over this. So they know I'm missing and I'm with Domani. They were going to find out sooner or later. It was inevitable.
"Breathe, Finley," Domani says, crouching at my side. "You're okay. Just breathe, tesoro."
I inhale a lungful of air and promptly choke on it.
Domani curses, dragging me into his arms. I shouldn't, but I burrow into him, pressing my face to his throat as tremors wrack my body. I don't want to go back to hell. For the first time in a long time, I feel hope. I'm not ready to lose it. I don't think I'll survive losing it.
If I have to go back there…I'm going to my death.
Uncle Cillian will kill me for running. It'll be my pleas for mercy slipping through cracks in the doors. I'll be the next one to die in that house. And it'll be my burning flesh permeating every inch of space inside.
"You're safe," Domani whispers in my ear, holding me as if he doesn't plan on ever letting me go. "You're right here with me, and you're safe."
I want to believe him. God, I want it so fucking badly. But one thing I've never been? Naïve. I'm not safe, and neither is he. Right now, we're the furthest thing from it.
"How are you feeling?" Domani asks an hour later, watching me carefully from across the kitchen table. His powerful arms cross his broad chest, pulling his suit jacket tight across his shoulders.