Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“Wow. Thanks, do I look that bad?” she hisses.
“No. You look beautiful. But we still need to talk,” I say again, this time more forcefully.
“There is nothing to talk about.”
I look between us. The evidence of our tryst is still front and center. “I beg to differ. I tried to call you. I tried to see you. Why do you think I put on this whole ruse? I knew your father wouldn’t let me near you, so I had Cyrus Reed throw a masquerade ball. That way, Michael wouldn’t know I was here. I did all of this”—I gesture my hands around the room—“just to see you.”
“See me? Don’t you mean have sex with me? Seems like a lot of work to get laid …” she snaps “… in a … what is this? A dining room?”
“Yes.”
She’s quiet for a moment, her eyes narrowing. “When did you try to contact me?”
“Since we left Miami to head to New York.” My vague answer isn’t lost on her as her jaw tightens.
“And before that?”
“Phoenix, it was wrong of me to disappear when we first got off the island.” She lifts a brow at my words. “I wanted to give you space to think, to heal, but now I want to talk.”
“And you thought this was the place. Spoiler alert, it’s not.” She stands, fixes her dress, and starts to walk away. My hand reaches out to stop her, but I think better of it. You don’t try to cage a frightened bird. Her flight-or-fight has kicked in, so I need to give her time.
“You can run away all you want, but you can’t hide from me, little dove. I’ll always be there to catch you.”
46
Phoenix
“This is enough already. I don’t know what he did to you, but you need to talk to me. If he hurt you …” my father says, stepping farther into my suite on the top floor of the hotel that he’s rented.
“He didn’t hurt me.” Not a lie, technically. He never hurt me physically. Not emotionally either, if I’m being honest with myself.
“He did something. You have been hiding in your room for a month.”
“Since when is that a problem? Before this, you hid me in a boarding school and then Switzerland.”
His mouth opens and shuts, and I realize I may have gone too far. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
He shakes his head and looks down before lifting his gaze to reach mine. What I see reflected on his face makes me stumble. “I’m sorry. I was wrong to say that. It was never because of you. It was because of that man. Everything that has gone wrong is because of that man.”
“Dad—”
“No. Don’t Dad me. It’s true. You would never have gotten on that boat if it weren’t for what he did to me. And for what? His hatred for what? An unwarranted vendetta. The man is garbage, plain and simple.”
If I ever had any bit of doubt about my father’s part in Alaric’s brother’s death, I don’t now. My father is a proud man, an angry man when need be, but never a liar. If he were involved, he would understand Alaric’s need for vengeance.
“If I could, I would have him killed. The world would be a better place without him in it.”
I’m about to object and defend the man who only a few minutes ago, I was hating, but a wave of nausea hits me hard, and I feel my lunch rising up my throat. Without another word, I bolt from the door and into my bathroom. Everything I ate today comes right back up.
I hear his footsteps from behind me.
He hands me a towel, but I’m too weak to say anything.
“Enough of this. I know you didn’t want to go to the doctor, but you are. Now.”
I wipe my mouth before standing up and walking over to the sink. I fill a glass and then spit.
“I’m not going now. I’m going to bed.”
“Like hell, you are, Nix. We are going to the hospital. This parasite or bug or whatever you caught on that island has been going on too long. It’s obvious you need medical attention.”
He doesn’t let me say no. Instead, he’s ushering me to the door.
All I want to do is crawl back into my bed and hide, but apparently, that is not in the cards right now. Because the next thing I know, I’m in the car, and I’m on my way to the hospital.
From that point on, I’m in a daze.
I’m taken to a private room.
I guess money and connections can get anything done. Next, I’m poked and prodded.
It’s awful. Not only do I just want to sleep, but they’ve taken so much blood I’m sure I will pass out.
Now, I’m lying on a gurney with a flimsy gown on, waiting for someone to come in and tell me what the heck is going on. Some doctor I don’t know is the one to finally walk into my room.