Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Eve was not a friend. She sent the foster girls into the devil’s den, where all her real friends wanted to play. “Play” meant a bunch of male friends liked to intimidate, rape, and sometimes beat some of the girls. Eve was supposed to drug them—not enough to knock them out, but enough to stop them from fighting back.
Winnie hadn’t drunk anything. She was not drugged.
So, that party had quickly turned into a nightmare where she was fighting for her life. Salvation had come in the form of Elias. At the time, neither she, nor Eve, nor Eve’s friends had known that breaking into Elias’s warehouse had been detected. He’d been standing by, waiting, and what he found had caused a lot of death.
Elias killed the five boys that had attempted to rape and beat Winnie, along with Eve, who had been yelling for them to shut her the fuck up.
In the carnage, she had been covered in blood, looked up at Elias, thanked him, and then asked if he was going to kill her. He answered by asking her what had happened.
When she told him, she believed her life had changed forever. His bargain was, he would allow her to live, but she had to agree to be his wife. In less than twenty-four hours, she had been nearly raped, beaten, seen murder, and married.
She didn’t know what he did to Eve’s family, if he even did anything. All she knew was she never had to go back to that farm, and since then, her life had changed forever.
Anyone else might be afraid of Elias. She wasn’t afraid of him. That had all happened four years ago. When it came to her husband, she was loyal to him. He earned it.
The truth was, he could have killed her that night, but he didn’t. Instead, he married her, and in a way, turned her into a fucking princess. Which was why she followed him to the back of the car, like so many times before, and moved toward the opposite side as Elias climbed in beside her. She always gave him his space.
So far, it had been a marriage of … peace and tranquility. Winnie was happy, there was no reason not to be, but she couldn’t help wanting more. And she knew it was wrong to hope, to want, to even expect. Elias didn’t owe her a damn thing.
She couldn’t stand the thought of him being with another woman. She had never been jealous of anyone in her life. Sometimes, she might have been a little envious, but that made sense. She had watched many women and girls experience life, and she had been curious of the what ifs. What if she hadn’t been put into foster care? What if she had parents that loved her? So many what ifs.
The thought of Elias with another woman churned in her stomach. In the early years of their marriage, she didn’t care. If he wanted to have sex, he could have it with someone else. Now, she didn’t quite feel that way. She felt … irritated. She wanted to be the woman he turned to. Was that crazy?
****
Business was thriving. Business was always thriving.
Hitting the casino was part of his regular routine when it came to taking Winnie out. It was easier staring at the cards than wondering what she was thinking half the time.
Four years ago, Elias knew if he had killed her, his life would have been so much easier. He wouldn’t have married her, nor would he have to deal with thinking about her.
Women had come and gone throughout his life. All the women he fucked knew the score. He was not the kind of man to stick around. The only reason he was there, was to have fun. Women were there for a purpose—to please him, then fuck off. It had worked for a long time.
Until he met an eighteen-year-old in one of the most fucked-up situations that had even surprised him. He had set cameras up in his warehouse because he had known some punk-ass kids had been invading his space, and he wanted to get shit moved along. What he had seen had sickened him.
Winnie had been the intended victim. He sat and listened for thirty minutes before she arrived, to what the guys wanted to do to her. They were sick fucks, and it angered him. He put a stop to it.
Yes, he knew that shit existed. He also knew there were people that did far worse. Anyone who attempted to approach him with that kind of shit ended up dead. He didn’t deal in rape, human trafficking, or the perversion of children. He didn’t agree with it, and made sure it didn’t happen in his city.
It was why some of the local cops didn’t have a problem with him. For the most part, he ran a tight ship, and nothing affected civilians. There were times shit got out of hand, but he dealt with it swiftly. No one messed with Elias Moore.