Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Arabella had always been like this, the person who offered concrete help rather than vague sympathy, who didn’t ask if you needed anything but instead told you what she was going to do.
It was a quality I’d spent my life surrounded by but rarely encountered without strings attached. Arabella didn’t care what I could do for her.
Her adoration didn’t come under conditions.
She simply cared. Truly. Deeply.
Arabella: You mean a lot to me. You know that, right? I hate that you’re going through whatever this is and I can’t fix it. I hate that you’re in some hotel room alone and I can’t do anything about it.
I stared at her message for a long minute before I finally typed a response.
Me: How are the girls?
I sent it before I could reconsider. The deflection was transparent and I knew she’d see through it, but the alternative was me spilling my truth to her… and I knew Arabella wasn’t ready for it. My ugly, deceptive truth. And the things I had done that led me where I was today.
Not that I regretted any decisions I had made.
Every lie, every choice was intentional.
There was a pause. I could almost hear her sigh through the phone.
Arabella: Fine. We’ll circle back to your situation later.
Arabella: The girls are walking now. Full-on, unstoppable walking. They’re absolutely devious. They’ve figured out that if one of them distracts me, the other can make a break for the stairs. Cameron caught Lydia halfway down the stairs yesterday, and I nearly had a heart attack. He carried her back up and then stood guard at the top step for twenty minutes.
A real smile pulled at my mouth.
Me: Such a protective older brother. Though, I believe he’s going to be insufferable when he’s older.
Arabella: He already is. Killian’s influence, obviously.
Me: Do you want more? Kids, I mean.
The three dots appeared and disappeared twice before her response came.
Arabella: No. I love my three babies, and the doctors were clear after the girls. It’s not safe for me to carry another pregnancy, and Killian won’t even discuss it.
Arabella: He would never put me in a position that could harm me, and we’re both well aware of the risks...
This was the kind of devotion that existed in Arabella’s world but not in mine. She had a husband who adored her… and well, my husband was a monster in disguise.
He was heartless. Cruel and ruthless in his ways.
Me: Killian is a good man.
Arabella: He is. And you deserve someone who would do the same for you.
I didn’t respond to that. There was nothing to say that wouldn’t sound either bitter or delusional, and I was trying very hard to be neither. My friend deserved happiness.
She was a good woman, someone with a gentle soul.
I wasn’t a good woman.
My heart was broken and my soul was tainted.
Me: Give the babies a kiss from me.
Arabella: I will. And Serafina?
Me: Yes?
Arabella: I meant what I said. Come to me. Whenever. Whatever. Promise me.
I looked at those words for a long moment. Then, I typed.
Me: I promise.
I set the phone face down on the mattress. For a long moment I sat in the silence of the room, listening to the hum of the hotel’s ventilation system and the distant pulse of traffic three floors below.
The chapter sat abandoned on my laptop, the cursor still blinking its patient, indifferent rhythm. The words wouldn’t flow tonight, and I knew better than to force it.
It was time to accept defeat. At least for tonight. Tomorrow was a new day.
I untangled my legs from the bedsheets and stood up, stretching my sore, aching muscles. The numbness in my legs slowly faded away.
The cream-colored carpet was thick beneath my bare feet as I walked to the window and stood there, looking.
Thud.
I looked for a long minute, my eyes searching into the unknown darkness of the night.
Thud.
He was there. I knew he was.
Thud.
I didn’t know how I knew. It didn’t make sense to me how I knew, but I just did. There was no figure standing in the shadow across the street, no silhouette in a parked car, no telltale glint of binoculars catching light.
It was almost two in the morning and the streets were empty except for one or two random passing cars.
I knew he found me a couple days ago. I felt it, the unmistakable sense of him… but then, somehow, I had been lucky enough to slip past him. I didn’t know how because Adrian Salvatore wasn’t a distracted man.
He was perfect in everything he did. Meticulous. Calculated. Precise.
Yet, I had successfully eluded him. I would be lying if I said it didn’t stroke my ego more to outmaneuver a man like Adrian. There was something intoxicating about knowing I could still stay one step ahead of him.
Again and again.
His defeat lingered on my tongue, sweet and satisfying.