Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Casey’s lying in bed. I stand in the doorway and stare at her, heart hammering in my chest. She seems so small and beautiful. The overwhelming urge to crawl in beside her is almost impossible to fight against. But that won’t be good for either of us. The second I give in to her is the second all my walls come falling down for good.
But I need those walls. At least for a little while longer.
I turn to leave but she starts to stir. I can’t help myself. I move in closer, watching her shift in bed, her eyes blinking open as she looks at me over the sheets. She suddenly comes awake, pulling back and covering herself with the blankets as if she were somehow indecent.
“Declan? What are you doing?”
“Checking on you.”
“What time is it?”
“A little past midnight.”
She squints at her bedside table and taps at her phone. “You scared me.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” I’m torn between staying and leaving. I hate feeling this way. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“I’m fine.” There’s an edge to her voice. She leans back against the headboard, her face hardening. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
I take a sharp breath. “I’ve been busy.”
“I’m aware. Funny how you only remember me when it’s convenient.”
“I haven’t forgotten about you for one second, Casey.” I move closer to her. I hate that she feels abandoned. If she understood how much space she takes up in my head, she’d never worry about being alone again. She’s everything to me. She’s every heartbeat. Every single fucking breath.
But she holds up a hand. “Don’t come closer.”
I stop a foot away from the end of her bed. “I know I’ve been busy. Taking over from my father’s been chaotic and difficult, but it won’t last forever.”
“I don’t care about that.”
I tilt my head to the side. “What’s wrong then?”
“It’s you, Declan. You’re what’s wrong.”
“I’m not sure how to take that.”
Her jaw tightens and her hands ball into fists. I’ve never seen her so tense before. Rage burns in her eyes as her lips pull back into a snarl. Her voice snaps like a whip and it’s like the carpet starts to drag me down into darkness as she slaps me across the face with a single question:
“How long have you been meddling with my life?”
Chapter 23
Casey
He goes all quiet. The second the words spill out it’s like he shuts down. Declan’s staring at me and clearly trying to come up with an answer, but I don’t want another polished lie.
I want the truth.
“Don’t make something up,” I say before he can spew more bullshit. “Don’t try to pretend. I know you’ve been watching me. I know about your deal with my aunt.” Cold fury boils in me, and that’s the only thing keeping me going. Otherwise, I think I might just start screaming. “You’ve been paying for everything, haven’t you? You helped me get into college. You pulled strings to get me internships. It’s been you.”
He nods very slowly, staring into my eyes. “I’ve been taking care of you for a long time.”
I shiver and tighten my grip on the sheets like it’s a shield keeping him away. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I never planned for this to happen. I felt like I owed you something at first, but slowly, everything changed.”
“How did it change?”
“Sheila sent me a picture of you on your first day at college. Eighteen years old and already even more beautiful than your mother ever was. Right then, I knew. The deal with your parents was gone. But you would always be mine.”
My heart rockets into my chest. His face is hard and hungry. Passion burns in his eyes. I didn’t know Declan had a fire in him like this. But it clearly blazes for me, and that’s terrifying.
Because a sick part of me likes it.
“You’re the reason I haven’t had a boyfriend since high school,” I whisper as the realization dawns on me. “You’re the reason they’ve been running away.”
“None of them were good enough for you. I couldn’t stomach the idea of anyone else touching what’s mine.”
“You don’t own me. You never did.”
“Not yet, but I knew one day I would, and now here you are. Living in my house. Wearing my ring. Taking my name.”
“Fuck you, Declan. This is too much.”
“I gave you a good life. I paid Sheila more than she ever dreamed possible to make sure you were taken care of. I did everything I could to ensure you had a good upbringing. I always planned on leaving you alone, but I never imagined how I’d feel seeing that one picture of you. It started everything, Casey. It ignited something inside of me.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it.”
“I’ve wanted you for a long time. Seven years feels like forever. I pulled you to me like a rock around a star. I dragged you closer and closer, hired you as my assistant, kept you as near as I could without burning you up. Until that fucking box landed on my desk and I finally broke.”