Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
She presses her lips into a hard line, guilt flashing in her eyes, and I see the exact moment her shoulders slump, deciding to be honest for a change. “You have to understand,” she starts. “I had assumed he wasn’t returning. I thought I had to find a plan B, so I was entertaining a male friend. You know, Julie’s husband. You would have met them at my anniversary dinner—”
“The guy who knocked you up, I assume?”
“Yes,” she says, coldly. Though it doesn’t go unnoticed how she fails to ask about the well-being of the baby inside her womb, while also admitting to sleeping with a friend’s husband. “I believe Elias must have been watching me through our home security system because he returned home in a fit of rage. My . . . company was able to slip out the back door while Elias came for me.”
“You understand how insane this is, right? You have to leave him.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she tells me. “He just needs some time to calm down, and then it’ll be fine. Everything can go back to normal.”
“And the baby?” I ask.
“What about it?” she says, glancing away. “I assume I miscarried, and in that case, so be it. Considering Elias’s vasectomy, it’s for the best. This way, there’s not a constant reminder of my infidelity, nor a screaming child for me to deal with. It should help keep Elias calm, at least until the law catches up with him.”
She’s fucking sick.
I see red, and suddenly, there is no question about whether I’m ready to raise a child, because if that baby still lives, I will never let my mother get her hands on her. On the off chance that this baby somehow survives, the second she’s born, she’s mine.
I shake my head, getting to my feet as rage burns through my veins. “For what it’s worth,” I spit, my hands balling into fists at my sides as I try not to cry. “We don’t know if the baby still has a viable heartbeat, but if she does and she miraculously survives nine months in your womb, I’m taking her far away from you.”
And with that, I storm out of the room, collecting Knight as I pass him. As far as my mother is concerned, she’s dead to me. Elias can have her.
31
HARPER-RAYN
Knight’s warm arm rests over my waist, holding me against his chest as he sleeps soundly behind me, but me? I haven’t been able to sleep a wink since the moment Mom was admitted to the hospital. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not my mother’s welfare I’ve been concerned about.
It’s three in the morning, and my eyes are starting to sting. It’s been well over forty-eight hours since I last slept, and I’ve never felt so frustrated. I just need to close my eyes and drift off into a peaceful sleep, but apparently, it’s easier said than done.
Letting out a sigh, I slip out from under Knight’s arm. If I stay here much longer, my endless groans of frustration are going to wake him, and as much as I’d love the company while I waste away during the night, I’m not going to do that to him. Not when he has such a high-risk job. He needs to be on the ball every moment of the day, and my sleepless night won’t be the reason why he goes into work tired. Hell, I think I’ve already caused him enough stress. He doesn’t need any more of it.
Padding out of our room, I take myself to the couch and get comfortable under the throw blanket before finding my Kindle on the coffee table. I flip through my options, trying to find something that could potentially take me away from the horrors of reality, when a strange shiver trails down my spine.
I sit up straighter on the couch, the shiver turning into goose bumps as the odd sensation of someone watching me prickles my skin.
My heart starts to race, and I shoot to my feet, spinning around to find a figure standing in the hallway, his dark stare captivated by me beneath that vampiric mask.
I suck in a breath, my body already trembling.
He’s come for me. It wasn’t enough to almost kill me in the parking garage or to murder Dr. McKullan, but I knew that. I knew it right from the beginning. He wasn’t going to stop until he had claimed every inch of me. Until I was broken beyond repair.
I frantically search the room for anything to use as a weapon, anything to defend myself against this monster, when I realize the only weapon I have is my voice. I take a deep breath, preparing to scream for Knight, when the masked stalker shakes his head.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, little kitten,” he purrs, his voice making my stomach tie up in knots. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”