Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“I don’t know. I don’t want this. You lied to me… you manipulated me… you hired me for some bizarre, sick reason. Now you think we can have a marriage?”
“I never said that.” He looks to the side. He’s standing beside the deep end ladder. His fingers trace the metal slowly. “Do you think I want to marry you, Caroline?”
“Honestly, I have no idea what you want. I can’t begin to imagine it. We’re a different species.”
“You’re right about that.” His smile is gone now. The way he looks at me is terrifying. There’s a hate in him, a bleak coldness. I noticed it the first time we met and now it’s staring me straight in the face. I feel like I’m standing at the edge of a chasm.
“What do you want from me, Finn?”
“I want to hurt you.” He says it so simply, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
I have to swallow against a scream. “That’s really fucking weird.”
“I want to hurt you, Caroline. I want to hurt you, and your brothers, and your father. I despise you more than you can ever understand.”
Heat flushes into my cheeks. I feel naked and vulnerable. “Is that why you fucked me?” I snap at him.
He nods once. “Exactly why.”
“God, you’re fucking sick.” I skirt around him, keeping my distance. “I’m not doing this.”
“Yes, you are, and I am too.”
“Fuck off.”
“I don’t want this either. You think I want to marry you? You think I want anything to do with your filthy family?”
I whirl on him. “What do you know about my family? You’re nothing. You’re nobody. Just leave me alone. I’m done here.”
“Good. Storm out. Make a scene. How will that go over with your father?”
I grab my stuff, fighting tears. I hate myself for it too. Crying only ever pisses my family off and makes the hurt that much worse. If I cry, they won’t stop until I do. I shove the tears down like I’ve learned to over the years and stare at Finn.
“Stop talking like you know me.”
“I might not know you well, but I know your family. What’s your father going to do when you tell him you refuse to marry me?”
I shove the door open and storm into the apartment. Finn follows at a distance, a grin locked on his face. My heart’s pounding and I feel sick, because he’s right, and I don’t know how he knows. If I tell my father I refuse to do this, he’s going to hurt me. He hasn’t hurt me in a while, but he’ll do it again if he has to. I learned that too. There’s no disobeying the leader of the Flanagan family, not if I’m smart.
I march downstairs. Finn follows, pausing in the kitchen. I spin on him, humiliated and angry. I feel betrayed and torn to pieces. “I don’t care what my dad’s going to do to me. Whatever it is, it can’t be worse than being your wife for the rest of my life.”
“Are you sure about that?” He’s watching me carefully like he’s trying to gauge my reaction. “Why did you move away from home, Caroline?”
“Because I wanted to. Screw this, I’m not spending another second here.”
“Why did you run away from them?” My heart’s going to explode. I walk fast to the front door. I can’t stay here a second longer. “Why clean apartments when you could be living in a mansion?”
I stop in the foyer. “I’m through with this.”
“Come to work tomorrow.”
I spit out a laugh. “Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because if you do, one day, I swear, this whole apartment will be yours.”
My laugh dies on my lips. He doesn’t look like he’s joking, but that makes no sense. “It’ll be ours, you mean. Since you still think we’re getting married.”
He shakes his head slowly. “No. Yours. Alone. Keep showing up to work until the wedding, and one day, I swear it on my life, you’ll have all this.”
The idea is tempting. I hate myself for even considering it. I’m not sure what he’s offering exactly, but I can imagine some kind of arrangement where we live separately after a set period. That could work too: my father doesn’t care if we share a bed, so long as we stay married and keep the alliance alive.
“How can I trust you? After what you did? You just got done telling me that you hate me and want to hurt me.”
“I do hate you. I do want to hurt you. But I’m not stupid. We need each other now, Caroline. We’re trapped in this together. I have about as much say in this marriage as you do. We might as well learn to live with it.”
“You’re an absolute freak.”
“You have no idea how right you are.”
I shake my head and pull open the door. “I’ll come back tomorrow night if you swear you won’t be here.”