Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
I drop my hand, feeling as shaken as Inara looks.
And I realize why I was so quick to file marriage papers and mark her with my name. All my obsession, all my intense feelings add up to one thing.
Love.
It’s not an emotion I’ve allowed myself to feel. All-consuming desire, yes. But the need to comfort, care for, and control her has alchemized and turned into something more.
I love Inara.
Have I told her yet? I almost want to shout it out now, shout it to the world.
“Mr. Roy!” Reporters are surging forward, shouting questions. Only the solid barrier of my security team holds them back.
I move back to the microphones, holding up my hands. “No questions today,” I tell them. “Please respect our privacy. My media team will be in touch.”
“Mr. Roy! Wait!” The press isn’t taking no for an answer. Nadia is already striding toward me, ready to take over and rebuff all questions.
But one reporter calls out to Inara. “Mrs. Roy! Is it true the Bondage Killer killed your entire family?”
My head snaps back, searching for the speaker. It’s a man’s voice, but he’s hidden in the crowd. “Who said that?” I bark before I can stop myself, and the mics pick up my question.
The reporters also look around, sensing blood in the water. “The Bondage Killer?” they mutter to each other. “Is it true?”
The same speaker calls out again, “What about reports that the serial killer is back and targeting you?”
I don’t have to look back at Inara to know that she’s gone still and stiff, shut down in the face of a threat.
I need to shut this down right now.
“Know this,” my voice rings out. “I will not tolerate any attempts to pry into our private lives.” A few reporters lower their arms, cowed. I glower at them and the cameras, giving them a glimpse of the monster I’ve worked so hard to hide. “And if anyone seeks to harm or threaten my wife, it’ll be the last thing you do.”
Inara
* * *
“I didn’t directly threaten anyone,” Rex says.
“You didn’t have to,” Nadia replies. “You looked like you were about to leap off the stage and strangle someone with your bare hands.”
We’re in the back of a limo, riding to Hotel Magnifique. After the disaster of a press conference, Nadia took over. She ended the line of questions by announcing that she’d emailed them all detailed press kits. Reporters stopped shouting to check their inboxes then and there. She deftly dangled the possibility of private interviews to a few select news outlets, then bundled Rex and me into this car.
Now she’s reprimanding Rex for bungling the statement she gave him. I’ve never seen anyone attempt to give Rex orders, much less dress him down, so this is kind of fun.
“It’s not like I pointed at any of them and said outright that I would kill them.”
“Good job,” Nadia deadpans. “Do you want a cookie?”
I love this woman. If I weren’t already married, I’d be tempted to see if she would top me sometime.
“Legal is shitting themselves,” she says, swiping on her phone. “It’s all hands on deck, trying to spin this.”
“That’s what I pay them for.” Rex sounds like a sulky child. “Get my money’s worth.”
“Oh, you will, Mr. Roy. And we’re billing overtime.”
Rex doesn’t bother to get the last word, and that’s how I know he’s shaken. As soon as we slid into our seats, he captured my right hand and kept it clasped between both of his.
“Is it bad?” I ask. My stomach is churning from the rollercoaster of the day. The last hour is still a blur. I remember the kiss, then a shadow falling over us—a psychic warning. “Is Rex in trouble?”
“It’ll be alright,” Rex assures me. “Nadia has fixed much worse.”
Nadia snorts, and he adds, “If anything, I might have to pay a small fine.”
“If the reporter sues, you could be out a couple million,” she says.
“Like I said. Small.”
Nadia shakes her head and looks at me like You married him. I squeeze Rex’s hand. I don’t know why I’m comforting him when he’s responsible for this mess. I guess I can sense he’s trying.
Please, Inara. Let me help. He keeps begging me to let him in. He’s as damaged as I am, but he’s trying.
Maybe I can try a little harder too. Let down my walls and stop shutting him out.
But I’m terrified, too. “It’ll all be out now, won’t it? Everything about my past.”
Rex wraps an arm around me. We re-position so I’m leaning into him on the bench seat. A couple holding onto each other as we face the world.
Nadia’s expression softens, but she doesn’t shy away from answering. “It’s out. But the press kit focuses on your exceptional career. We included statements from several officers from the LAPD, as well as Agent Larsen from the FBI. They all spoke very highly of your abilities as a detective.”