Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
I bite my lip.
She pins her arms at her sides and balls her hands into fists. “The bastard did hurt you.”
Guilt heats my cheeks. “Not exactly.”
She studies me. “What does that mean?” When I don’t reply, her jaw goes slack. “You had sex.” Her disappointment makes place for confusion. “Kinky sex?”
The tops of my ears burn.
“Tiana, no.” She puts a palm over her heart. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I didn’t mean to. It just happened. One moment we were fighting, and the next…”
“What were you thinking?” she cries out.
I can’t even explain how I ended up back in Dante’s bed. I wanted to get him out of my system. I instigated the sex. Then he forced information from me and one thing led to another, which happened again when he punished me.
Jazz takes my hand while searching my face with a deep worry line running between her eyebrows. “Are you falling for him again?”
“Of course not,” I say quickly.
She tilts her head toward my wrist. “Then what is this?”
Honestly? “I don’t know.”
“Are you going back to him?” she asks carefully.
“No.” I pull my hand free and smooth my hair back from my face. “Never.”
“Then what’s going on between the two of you? What do you call this? Casual sex? Enemies with benefits?”
I don’t even know how to label our toxic relationship. Forced? Yes. Coerced? Not entirely. Dante is the ruthless kidnapper keeping me hostage against my will, but he’s also the father of my child. I can’t deny him a place in Noah’s life. However, I can deny him a place in my bed, and that’s where the lines get blurry. Because every time he touches me, he renders me helpless. Nothing about how he touches me is forced, and that fills me with shame.
I can stand here and tell both myself and Jazz it will never happen again, that it was just a mistake, but deep inside, I know it will be a lie. My willpower isn’t that strong. Not when he puts his hands on me and traps me in the invisible hold of those cold, golden eyes.
“Oh, Tiana.” Jazz looks at me with pity. “You’re in so much trouble.”
“I’m not,” I maintain stubbornly. “As soon as Dante gets what he wants, I’ll carry on with my life. We can find an arrangement for sharing Noah that works for both of us.”
Dante’s ominous words ring in my mind, his vow that he won’t let me go. I just have to be clever about it. I’m pretty sure he’s going to demand that I sign over my shares, so I’ll add a condition of my own. I’ll give him the power to destroy my brother only if he promises to give me freedom in return.
“I’m over him.” The bitterness of that lie coats my tongue. “What happened should’ve stayed in the past where it belongs. I wish it did, but it’s not that straightforward.”
Her words are wry. “Now you’re going to say it’s complicated.”
“It is.”
“Tiana.” She grabs my hand again, urgency visible in every tense line of her face. “You’ve got to get out of here. Now. While you still have a chance.”
My voice is pained. “I can’t.”
“When will Dante go away again? Another opportunity may not come soon.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“You’re no match for him.” Her eyes plead with me. “He still has a hold on you. If you stay, he’s going to destroy you again. You barely survived the last time.”
“Dante’s men are watching the hotel. They’re at every door and exit.”
“We can make a plan.” Her tongue trips over her words in her desperation to get them out. “Reino likes me. I can distract him.”
I reel with horror at her suggestion. “No.”
Undeterred, she plows ahead. “I can put my sleeping pills in his coffee. He’s always on duty at the main door in the morning. I can take his gun.”
“No,” I say, louder this time. “You’re not going to put yourself in that kind of danger.”
She squeezes my fingers. “I can disguise us. I can take the guys at the emergency exit a flask of coffee too. When they’re out cold, we can take the stairs to the second floor. We’ll get out there and take the normal elevator to the ground floor. We can walk right out of the front doors before Dante’s men are any the wiser.”
“You don’t even have your stage makeup or wigs.”
“Honey, you haven’t seen what I can do with a sachet of instant coffee.” She lets my hand go and touches one of my curls. “I can turn you into a brunette in less than ten minutes. With my clothes, some heavy make-up, and sunglasses, no one will guess you’re Tatiana.” She becomes more animated. “I can dress Noah up as a girl. He can wear one of my miniskirts. We’ll pretend it’s a game.”