Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
They did, I say to myself. In their cabin. But unlike they were with Tyler, my mountain men weren’t so eager to get rid of me.
“Has it been hard for you?” I ask. My stomach turns with dread as I wait for his answer, so I quickly grab one of the waters waiting on the table and take a healthy sip.
“It was at first,” Tyler answers. “I’m still waking up most mornings in a cold sweat. And when I rip back the blanket, I have to relive the moment I first woke up in the hospital all over again.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again when nothing else comes to mind.
“Don’t be.” Tyler chuckles and then glances down at his hand, but my gaze is still stuck on his face and that wistful smile. “It helps that I’m not waking up alone anymore now.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I’m…married now.”
I choke on my water when he shows me the gold band on his finger that I hadn’t noticed before. “Holy fuck! Really?” I snatch his hand to get a better look at it and then drop it like it’s on fire. “Already? What the hell, Tyler? It’s only been a year since the crash!”
He shrugs and chuckles again. “When you know, you know.”
All I can do is gape. I’m both happy for Tyler and flabbergasted. “Who is she? How did you meet?”
“Her name is Shauna, and I met her in physical therapy.”
I stare at him and notice he can’t quite meet my gaze, so I try to hear everything he isn’t saying. “Was she your therapist, Ty?”
When all he does is blush, I cackle while feeling my respect for him grow. Tyler pulls out his phone and shows me a picture of her and then another and another. Most of them are of her sleeping. Boy is whipped. “She’s beautiful,” I say when he finally tucks his phone away. “I’m impressed, Ty. Look at you bangin’ the pretty doctor like a good little patient. You’re always so straitlaced.”
He makes a sound like he’s insulted. “We’ve fooled around, Aurelia. I don’t know why you’re so shocked.”
“Yes, well.” I swallow nervously. “I think it’s best if you never mention that again.” When Ty’s eyebrows jump and I see the question forming in his head, I quickly change the subject. “You should know that I only came back to confront my uncle. He’s doing and has done awful things, and he’s been using my name to do it. I have to stop him.”
Tyler’s body is strung tight as he sits up and swears. “How are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know yet. I can’t just return to my uncle’s side like nothing ever happened. I need to figure how to get close to him without tipping him off to what I’m up to.”
Tyler is pensive for a few moments before he speaks. “Your uncle always felt like you couldn’t survive without him. You need to create a scenario in which you need him. You need to make him believe he has complete control again.”
“How the fuck do I do that? He knows I can’t stand him. He’ll see right through me.”
“Not if you give him a crisis he can believe. Make him think you’ve fallen back into your old ways and you’re drowning without him there to fix it. People love to be proven right.”
“You mean another scandal.”
“You’re rife with them, princess.”
I bite back the urge to ask Tyler not to call me that, but instead, I’m stuck recalling how differently Zeke sounds when says it. He always whispers it like it’s a secret between us, like I’m precious to him, and he doesn’t want anyone else to have me.
“You make me sound like the Wicked Witch of the West.”
“Have you been online? You might as well be. People think you faked your death to garner sympathy.” I did fake my death, but the last thing I cared about was their fucking sympathy. “The scandal is already brewing and has been for weeks. You don’t even have to start the fire. You just need to fan the flames.”
I drum my fingers on my thigh as I give it some thought. “What about Allesi?”
“The blogger?” Tyler immediately exclaims. “No. Hell no. Allesi is a fucking psycho. I don’t think we need to go that extreme.”
“I’ve met psychopaths,” I say, thinking of Isaac. “Allesi isn’t one of them. He’s a pest, but he can make waves. The bad kind we need. And he can make it believable since everyone knows he hates me. We need to get the job done quickly, and Allesi is nothing if not a sweeping plague.” When Tyler still doesn’t look convinced, I add, “We’ll only create just enough of a scandal that it feels like the perfect storm but nothing that I can’t bounce back from.” But then I remember how it was the last time the whole world was against me, and I begin to lose some of my nerve. “Fuck.”