Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“But you’re eighteen.”
“Yes.”
“Legal in Italy. You’re Italian. I see no flaw in this logic.”
“I’m pregnant.” I stared at him in disbelief.
“You don’t have to be.” He took a sip of his brandy, studying me hawkishly. “I won’t stop you from getting an abortion. We can tell your father it was a miscarriage. It will free you from the burden of motherhood. From doting over your rapist’s bastard. The only thing you need to be aware of is that you’d still be bound to me by marriage. I won’t let you go. Too much is riding on my Bratva operation to give up the Camorra’s alliance.”
I swallowed hard as I considered his proposition. There was room for deliberation. The baby belonged to a violent rapist. I was too young…
“If you keep it, I’ll never love it. Never regard it as my own.” His lips moved, piercing through my thoughts. I swallowed hard.
“I want to keep it.” I placed the brandy on the coffee table between us. “I’ve always wanted a child of my own.”
He shrugged, tossing his drink back in one gulp and staring at the bottom of his empty glass.
He seemed lost in thought for a moment, and I wanted to draw him back to me. As much as his attention unsettled me, it also reminded me I was alive in some strange, amorphic way.
“How am I supposed to sleep in my bed after you screwed someone inside it?”
Tiernan threw me a distant glance. “I didn’t fuck her. Didn’t even touch her. She was an interrogation device, and it worked. As for your question—as a matter of fact, you shouldn’t sleep there at all. Your place is in my bed.”
“You cheat on me and you want me to sleep in your bed?”
“You cannot cheat on someone who isn’t yours.”
“Do you want me to be yours?” I blinked in disbelief.
“Not particularly.” His words dripped pragmatism. “We’re not sexually compatible.”
“Why?”
“You require tenderness and warmth. I only fuck women in the ass and, if I’m feeling benevolent, let them blow me instead.”
“Does this mean I can take a lover, too?”
“Sure.” He motioned with his hand to the door. “Knock yourself out.”
I scowled, realizing his game.
“No one would touch me because I’m your wife.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. The world has no shortage of idiots.” He stood up, unbuttoning his shirt. “But you should know that there’s a bounty on the head of anyone stupid enough to look in your direction, your own bodyguards included. Six million dollars, to be exact. Now, I suggest you move your shit to my bedroom if you want to sleep anywhere untouched by other women. I never let my hookups into my bed. Or.” He peered around us. “You can sleep on the bathroom floor again. Avoid the sofa, though. Some heinous things happened on it.”
“Aw.” I stood up quickly, scrunching my nose in disgust.
With that, the bastard sailed toward the hallway. He stopped before disappearing inside the corridor, snapping his fingers as he glanced at me over his shoulder.
“Oh, two more things. One—you’re never to miss dinner again without a good reason. This is a sacred time between us.”
Sacred, my ass. We spend the entire duration of it every night trying to kill each other with hate glares.
“And the second thing?”
“Don’t feel so sorry for yourself. Tragedies are excellent teachers, Lila. Learn, absorb, and conquer.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
TIERNAN
243 DAYS TO SELF-DESTRUCTION
Deaf.
Not intellectually impaired.
Not developmentally delayed.
Deaf.
Sharp. Intelligent. Cunning. Talented. Slightly unhinged, which—let’s admit it—only added to her allure.
Beautiful beyond words, art, and cultural standards.
A mixture between sweet, naive, and goodhearted, yet bloodthirsty enough to put a bullet in someone who crossed her.
Thank fuck I had no heart, or we’d have one hell of a problem.
I fell into a recliner in my bedroom, rolling my tongue over my upper teeth. I already had another stiff drink in hand, but there wasn’t enough alcohol on this continent to numb the fuckery that was going on in my head.
The last forty-eight hours were a disaster. First, there was the OB-GYN appointment. She was so small the doctor wrestled to push the ultrasound wand inside her. Beads had actually formed across the old hag’s forehead, and I was ready to tear the doctor’s head off her neck.
When Lila placed those baby blues on my face and held my hand, all the sadist in me could think about was plowing my massive cock inside that sweet little cunt.
She squirmed and moaned with discomfort, but it was me who had to adjust myself seven times sitting next to her so my cock wouldn’t rip a hole through my trousers.
The doctor noticed, too. I was pretty sure I’d be banned from the establishment if it wasn’t for my notoriety.
And her body. Jaysus. That body would be the death of any straight man. She straddled the seam between willowy and youthfully plump. With a trim waist, long legs, and dainty arms, all sun-kissed to perfection. Her tits were heavy and full, the curve of her arse round and bold.