Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Life might not be perfect, and even when there were still words that had to be said, life was still unbelievably good, and she told herself there was no need to hurry.
She had all the time in the world to make Jaak realize how extraordinary he was.
All the time in the world.
But she was wrong.
IT WAS ON CHRISTMAS Eve when everything fell apart in an instant. A drunk driver, a rainy night, and an unconscious, bleeding woman falling out of the backseat of the limousine that had crashed into the trees lining the sidewalk because of the collision: all the elements were there for a perfect whodunit mystery. It would have made a good story...if only it wasn’t reality, and reality didn’t have a way of turning bad to worse.
For three nights, the billionaire and Ilse’s brother kept a bedside vigil while Ilse remained pale and unconscious on the hospital bed. Perhaps if he had been given to wreak vengeance, the billionaire would’ve felt just a bit better. But that opportunity was lost to him forever. The driver of the other car had died on the spot, and a part of the billionaire wanted to rage at the injustice.
Death was too kind for such a man, so why the fuck did God let that man’s suffering end so quickly while Ilse lay trapped in a coma, a cage that could stay keyless for the rest of her life?
A week went by, and the billionaire ceased to care about anything and everything. His mind was completely consumed by the need to pray for just one damn thing.
That Ilse would wake up.
Let Ilse wake up, and everything would be okay again.
Let Ilse wake up, and the worst would be over.
But he was wrong.
On the eighth day of her confinement, Ilse’s eyes fluttered open, and an excruciating sense of joy gripped the billionaire at the sight of Ilse coming to life.
“Jaak?”
“I’m here, babe.”
Her head slowly turned towards him. “Jaak?”
He gripped her hand tightly. “I’m here, babe.”
Her eyes blinked. And blinked and blinked.
“Jaak.” Her voice broke. “I can’t see you.”
And that was when he realized that God had only traded one cage for another. That was when he realized he had been fooling himself all along, thinking he would never have to choose between keeping Ilse...and letting her go, before he failed her.
“Jaak?”
His hand tightened around her, but the moment her fingers started clutching his just as tightly, he had the wildest urge to pull away.
Why, God?
Why?
Ilse wasn’t supposed to fucking need anyone this way.
“Jaak,” she whispered brokenly. “Say something, please.”
But he couldn’t say a fucking word.
Even knowing she was waiting for him to speak—-
Even knowing she needed him to speak—-
Terror consumed him at the thought of how much she would need him, and how he was fucking guaranteed to fail her...just like the way he had failed Willem.
“Jaak. Please.”
Beautiful, strong, kind Ilse.
Why did this have to happen to her?
Why not him?
Why was it never him?
Why did it always have to be his loved ones that ended up hurt and never fucking him?
Chapter Eighteen
Ilse had never thought to wonder what life would be like if she couldn’t see. It just wasn’t a possibility, and even in the times her life had hit rock bottom, the worst thing that she had allowed herself to imagine was that she would die, and no one would look after Jan.
But now that it had happened, Ilse realized that death would have been a mercy.
Jan already had Jaak, and she knew the billionaire would continue to look after her brother even when she was gone.
Death didn’t scare her, but this – this world of darkness that she was now imprisoned in – terrified her, and every second living in it was a desperate, painful struggle. In a world where she would never see the sun rise or set, time had lost all meaning, and she became alone and immortal.
The years might continue to pass her by, but in her mind she would always be twenty-three because it was all she knew.
She could be in a room full of people, and it would be like being haunted by the living. She might hear them, feel them, but because she couldn’t see them, they were nothing but ghosts to her—-
And the billionaire was no different.
With every day that passed, Ilse could feel him drifting further and further away from her, and she just didn’t know what to do.
Stay with me. This was what she wanted to say, but how could she let the words out when she knew it wasn’t what he wanted to hear?
That was the funny thing about being blind. It might have taken away her sight, but it had also cursed Ilse with more insight than she wanted. It might have killed her eyes, but it had made her heart beat again, and now there was no hiding from the truth.