Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
My love? Why was he talking like he knew her? Who was he?
“It’s sad that you don’t know who I am, Lily, when I’ve spent so much of my time looking at you, at your naked body. He recorded those videos just for me. I was the only one who got to see you like that, except for him, of course. He got to touch you, move you. I didn’t like that.”
There was hatred in his voice now. And she gaped at him. He’d seen those videos of her. Wait . . . was he saying that Doctor Wallace recorded those videos of her for him?
“I was trying to find you when the video was late. When I contacted him, he said it was coming, but that wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t the agreement. I needed you to keep me calm. Without that video of my love, I became very, very angry. So I tracked him down. I found where he lived and I waited in hiding for him.”
Her mind was scrambling to keep up with everything. “You tracked down Doctor Wallace because he was late with the video?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, like I said, you were the only one who kept my anger at bay. I waited for him at his house. After he told me your name, I killed him. Unfortunately, I should have asked him for more information about you. Like where you lived.”
“You really killed Dr. Wallace?” she asked, struggling to keep up.
“Of course. Unfortunately, then I had to leave the doctor’s house quickly because that man turned up. Your boyfriend. How dare you have a boyfriend, Lily? You’re meant to be mine, all mine,” he snarled
Oh God.
Clearly, this man was deranged, and she should do her best to stay on his good side. This was going to be hard, but she had to do whatever she could to keep him calm. To stop him from hurting anyone else.
“But I didn’t know about you. If I had then I wouldn’t have had a boyfriend. But I was in a bad situation with my mother. She was forcing me to marry someone else, and Harvey took me. That’s why I was with him. He basically kidnapped me.”
He narrowed his gaze as if trying to figure out whether she was telling him the truth. Lord, she hoped he bought it. The last thing she wanted was for him to go after Harvey.
“I had no clue that you existed. I thought that Dr. Wallace was selling those videos to a lot of people.”
“I wouldn’t have allowed that,” he told her. “Those videos of you were only for me. Doctor Wallace knew that you were meant to be mine, but he kept you from me. He had to die. And because he touched you. Nobody touches you but me. Did that guy touch you?” He nodded toward the driveway.
“No, no,” she said quickly. “I’ve been too traumatized for that. He hasn’t touched me at all.”
“I’m not sure I believe you,” he said suspiciously.
“It’s the truth, believe it or not. I guess that’s up to you.”
Shoot. Be nice, Lily.
“What are you planning to do now?” Lily asked.
“We’re going to walk to where my truck is parked. Let’s go.”
And then she spotted him. She didn’t know how he got out of his paddock. And at that moment, she really didn’t care. Not when she saw him start to paw at the ground.
She started walking, watching Chuck out of the corner of her eye.
When Chuck started running toward them, she let out a scream and took off. “Watch out, he’s charging.”
“What? Oh, fuck.”
He fired his gun and she cried out.
Please don’t let him hit him. Please don’t let him hit Chuck.
She looked over her shoulder, but to her shock, Chuck had managed to slam his head into the guy’s side. He must have caught him by surprise as he went flying through the air and the gun fell onto the ground.
Turning, she raced toward the gun. She had to get it. She couldn’t risk any of the animals getting shot. Picking the gun up, she glanced around, wondering what she was going to do.
That’s when she saw the ladder resting against the side of the barn. Jaret had been up on the roof fixing it, and the llamas were tucked away safely in a paddock.
So she took off racing for the ladder. She just had to get there before he caught up to her.
She kept hold of the gun as she raced up the ladder. It wasn’t easy and holding the gun slowed her down. She heard yelling from behind her and she looked down.
He was nearly at the ladder. She wasn’t going to make it. This was hopeless. Her only chance was to shoot him with the gun, which absolutely terrified her.
But to her shock, Chuck charged at the guy again. He slammed into the man and the ladder just as she threw herself up onto the roof.