Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
“Hold on,” he said, his voice rough with smoke and emotion. “I’ve got you.”
His arms wrapped around me, lifting me from the floor.
The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was his face, so close to mine, his blue eyes burning with a fearful intensity that matched the flames around us.
He came.
But he was the reason I hurt in the first place.
***
I woke to the sensation of something cool against my forehead. A damp cloth, perhaps. I blinked, my eyes struggling to focus in the dim light.
I was in a bed, though not my own. The sheets were unfamiliar and the room smaller. Where was I?
“Serafina?”
Adrian’s voice.
I turned my head to find him sitting beside the bed, his hand holding mine. His face was drawn, exhaustion evident in the dark circles beneath his eyes.
Soot still smudged his cheek, his hair was disheveled, and there was a raw, angry burn along his forearm.
“You’re awake,” he said, relief evident in his voice. I stared at him for a moment, my mind still clouded with confusion and unconsciousness.
And then everything came crashing back to me. The smoke, the flames, the terror.
My pulse spiked, heart hammering as panic rose once more.
“You,” I gasped, the accusation slipping out as I yanked my hand from his. I scrambled backward on the bed, putting as much distance between us as possible. My body trembled, not from cold but from fear and rabid rage. “You did this.”
Adrian’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“The fire.” My voice rose, shaking with emotion. “You set it, didn’t you? You knew. You fucking knew about my fear, and you used it against me. You promised me no more cruelty, no more threats, and then you…you…”
Tears streamed down my face, hot and angry. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the betrayal cutting through me like a knife.
“How could you?” I sobbed, wrapping my arms around myself. “How could you do this to me? I trusted you. I actually started to believe you might be different, and then you—”
“Serafina, stop.” Adrian’s voice was firm, but there was a desperation in his eyes. He reached for me but I slapped his hand away. “I didn’t set the fire. I would never.”
“Don’t lie to me!” I screamed, the words tearing from my throat. “You’re always lying, always manipulating! You broke your promise. You break everything and everyone around you!”
That was all he was good at.
Destruction.
Adrian stood, his hands clenched at his sides. “I did not set that fire. I would never do something like that to hurt you.”
He looked indignant that I would accuse him of such things. But I knew of his reality, of the cruelty he possessed.
“Then how did it start?” I demanded, my voice breaking as I stood up. My knees shook a little but I remained steady on my feet. “How did it just happen to start in the hallway outside my room? How did you just happen to be there to save me? This was another one of your games, another way to control me, to make me—”
“To make you what?” Adrian’s voice rose to match mine, frustration and anger evident in every line of his body. “To make you terrified? To make you think I’m a monster who would burn you alive? Is that what you think of me?”
“What else am I supposed to think?” I shouted back. “You’ve done nothing but hurt me since the day we met!”
God, I wanted to slap him. Punch him. Kill him.
I hated him.
I hated him with every fiber of my being.
I hated—
“I would never do such a thing to harm you or our baby!” Adrian roared.
The words hung in the air between us, sharp and absolute.
I froze, my breath hitching in my throat. “What?”
Adrian ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture of frustration I had seen countless times before. “You don’t know,” he said, his voice quieter now. He inhaled, his chest expanding with the breath he took. “You haven’t figured it out yet.”
I blinked. What was he talking about? What haven’t I figured out yet?
“You’re pregnant, Serafina.”
Crack.
The room seemed to spin around me.
There was an echo in my soul, a fracture so deep and jagged I wasn’t sure anything could ever mend it.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, that can’t be. It’s impossible.”
“Why is it impossible?” Adrian’s eyes burned into mine. “We’ve been having sex, and I’ve come inside you every single time.”
“It’s not possible,” I uttered again, the words automatic, defensive.
Adrian’s expression hardened. “Why, because you’re on the pill?” His laugh was bitter, devoid of humor. “Yeah, I knew you were secretly taking the pill. And I swapped it, since the very beginning.”
Crack.
Another shattered piece of my soul fell to his feet.
“You were never actually on the pill, wife.”
The truth hit me like a physical blow. I stumbled back, hand flying to my still flat stomach.