Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
She leans back in my embrace, gasping. “What the hell?” she whimpers.
“I know,” I groan, not needing to ask what she means.
She feels it too: that instant heat, the flood of hunger and connection.
The kiss goes on for a long time. Her moans make me rock-hard, my tip pushing achingly against my pants. My heart is a war drum as I try to calm myself down and remind myself why I’m here.
I take a step back, nodding to the table. “This is reckless, Songbird.”
She smiles dangerously, tucking her hair behind her ear. She’s still wearing the earrings. “Maybe it is. But as long as Grandma’s safe, I don’t care.”
I study the photos. “I have to admit, you’ve done good work.”
“I can’t believe the cops missed all this. It’s so blatant.”
“Maybe they don’t know to look. Or they’re in on it.”
She bites her lip. “Do you think they could be working with him?”
I drop onto the couch, laughing savagely. But it comes out more like a sob catching hoarsely in my throat.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” She sits beside me and puts her hand on my leg.
Heartache wars with lust as I imagine taking her wrist and guiding her higher and higher…
“I’ve got no right to hate you for what you did,” I murmur.
“That’s not what’s on your mind.”
I smirk, tilting my head at her. She looks back at me knowingly, eyebrow raised.
“You can read me like a text, eh?” I tease.
“You seem… different.”
“My moral code led me to cut things off with you after I learned what you did,” I tell her. “Now, I know my moral code is bullshit.”
“What do you mean?” She asks after a long pause.
I grit my teeth hard, wondering how I can explain this without having a full-scale breakdown.
“It’s complicated,” I mutter.
“Oh, and I’m stupid?” She teases, nudging me playfully, a beautiful smile on her face, taking any sting out of it.
“I told you about my Uncle Seb,” I say.
“Hmm,” she mutters, nodding.
“It turns out, he’s a shareholder in the company that owns Aaron’s company. He was the one who ordered your uncle to infiltrate my company… and your uncle used you as a tool. Seb has been harboring a vendetta against me for years.”
She gasps. “Stealing your family’s fortune wasn’t enough? What is it with this guy?”
“I can’t blame him,” I sigh. “He’s gone too far. He needs to let it go. This… this generational blame shit, it’s not healthy. But I can’t hate him for it.”
“How is that even possible? He’s a monster!”
“My father turned him into a monster,” I say, staring at the dark TV screen, at her reflection looking back at us. “He was drunk and crashed his car into Sebastian and his family. He killed Sebastian’s wife and son. Then he ran and bribed and bullied his way out of justice.”
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “Dom, I’m so sorry. That’s awful for you.”
“Awful for me?” I stand, walking to the window, trembling with anger and hurt.
She walks up behind me and wraps her arms around my waist, hugging me tightly.
“Awful for you,” she says, and I feel her nodding against my back. “I can tell how much your father meant to you. I get the feeling that you built this business, lived your whole life, to make what happened to him right. Even after you learned about his mistress, you couldn’t hate him. But this is too much, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I whisper, a croak in my voice. “Way too damn much. He was supposed to be my hero, and now… How can I ever think of him like that again? How can I not hate him? My own father.”
I’m sorry, son.
But that’s just my mind. Who’s to say he would actually apologize if he were here? That’s one of the twisted punchlines in this joke of a situation. I’ll never be able to confront him.
“Look at me,” Izzy whispers.
I turn slowly. She’s got tears in her eyes, but they don’t slide down her cheeks. They cling to her lashes like little crystals.
“You choose what kind of man you are,” she whispers. “Not your father, you. You’ve built a company that does so much good for the world. You give people a chance.”
“I pushed you away for him,” I tell her, squeezing her hips, holding her too tight, probably, but she doesn’t complain. “I didn’t want to let you go. I had to. Because of his moral code. But the truth is, Songbird, I can’t hate you for what you did. The truth is, I…”
Love you for it.
“I’m proud of you,” I go on. “You’re loyal. You’re beautiful, inside and out. You’re perfect, Songbird.”
She throws her arms around me and presses against me for a kiss. I wrap my arms around her tightly and squeeze her against me. She moans, muffled by our kiss, and the sound shoots a hot stream of desire right to my cock.