Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
I don’t even pay attention to my bandaged wrists or the warm bathrobe covering me. The pain doesn’t matter anymore. Not when he’s looking at me as if I’m a stranger.
“Kane…”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry about your father.”
“I’m not. I would’ve eventually gotten rid of him, but this came earlier than calculated.” He stops at the foot of the bed, both hands in his pockets.
He’s towering over me.
Intimidating.
It makes me tremble, despite my attempts to rein it in, push it down. Put on the façade I wear so well.
But right now, I can’t.
“I believe you ought to be sorry for something different, Dahlia.”
I flinch, my fingers sinking into the sheets.
He knows.
Right. Grant promised to tell him everything.
“I…” No words follow. What am I supposed to say?
Am I even allowed to say anything?
“You’re what?” He seems larger, taller, and nothing like the Kane who held my hand while I goofed around in my hometown.
There’s no carefree energy, no soft looks, and certainly no rare smiles.
But there’s only one thought that buzzes through me.
I don’t want him to hate me.
I don’t want to lose him.
“Hear me out?” My voice is low in the silence, broken.
Lightning brightens up the sky and spills into the room, casting a menacing shadow on Kane’s face. Rain patters before it pours, its rivulets trickling down the window.
“I’m listening.”
There’s no encouragement, no softness. Only a depressing emotionless voice. But at least he’s willing to give me a chance to explain myself,
“For over eight years, Vi’s been the only person tethering me to life. She’s my world and the reason I’ve survived thus far.” My voice is still quiet and withdrawn. “So when she was attacked, I watched my world shatter before my eyes. I swore to exact revenge. I promised I’d make whoever was responsible pay, no matter what. And since my only connection to life was taken away, I felt invincible. Like I had nothing to lose.”
“Nothing to lose,” he repeats slowly.
“Yeah. So when I went through her journal and found an entry where she described being followed by suspicious men, and she drew pictures of the rings with unintelligible symbols they wore and mentioned the Vipers, I dug deeper and found out about Vencor. I remembered when I went out with Marcus that he was always rumored to come from a very influential family that belongs to a secret society, but I also knew he was never part of the family, so I didn’t get close to him again, not to mention he even tried to share me with his friends—”
“He shared you?” His jaw tics, his finger twitching.
“No, he didn’t get the chance. I left and broke up with him. I didn’t sleep with him either. He’s nothing in the great scheme of things, to be honest. But he did mention that most of the Vipers are rotten to the core and I heard rumors that many are in Vencor.”
“So you got close to me to achieve your vengeance.”
“No,” I blurt, then wince. “I mean, yes. That was the goal at the start, but I soon realized you couldn’t have possibly let something like Vi’s attack happen. I admit that I wanted you to get me into Vencor so I could investigate and find clues, but you didn’t allow that anyway. But really, I didn’t suspect you. If anything, the more time I spent with you, the more the lines blurred, and I couldn’t control my emotions.”
“Did you stop suspecting me before or after you extracted my and the team’s DNA?”
I gulp. He knows.
Of course he knows.
“I was only searching for Vi’s murderer. I…didn’t mean to harm anyone.”
“But you did, Dahlia.” A muscle jumps in his jaw. “Why the fuck would you leave my side in that town? Why the fuck wouldn’t you let me know that Grant and Julian threatened you? That your sister was kidnapped? Why the fuck did you keep all of that to yourself?”
“Because I didn’t want you to get hurt!” I shout, my vision blurry. “Because your father said he’d never let me see my sister again. Vi… Where is she?”
“She’s somewhere safe, but this isn’t about her.” He rounds the bed and grabs my chin. His skin is both warm and cold. Gentle but commanding. “This is about your reckless fucking actions that nearly got you killed. Do you have a death wish?”
“Of course not. You think I wasn’t scared? Because I was. I was so scared, I could barely breathe, but do you know what terrified me more? The fear of losing Vi or you.”
“Then you should’ve never left my side.” His cool is chipping, ripping at the seams, revealing his undiluted chaos beneath the calm.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You always have a fucking choice.” His fingers dig into my jaw, the pads probably bruising the skin, but it doesn’t matter.
Because I see it. Deep in his eyes.