Total pages in book: 331
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
“I ran into him, and he was mad.” She licks her lips. “I told him that the Lord was dead. I was on my knees, hugging the toilet. I felt sick after I let you touch me. Evan was yelling…I don’t remember much after that. He drugged me.”
I sigh, running a hand down my face. “I could have saved you. I would have helped you had you just said something to me.”
She gives me a sad smile. “You wouldn’t have stood a chance against Evan.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know he had unlimited resources and a lot of powerful Lords on his side. Dollhouse was unstoppable, Kash. As much as you wanted to help, you had limits. Plus, my father knew I was there. You going up against your father’s brother wouldn’t have done any of us any good.”
I might not have been a Lord, but I would have done anything for her. And I know my brothers would have helped me. “Then what happened?” I ask, needing to know.
“Like I said, it was a blur. I woke up in a room. No longer on the yacht. It looked like wooden paneling—a cabin maybe…there was yelling coming from another room. Lots of it. I hurt everywhere. Worse than I ever had. I was in and out of it for a while. Then when I woke up, I was in the hospital room with Bill and Gavin.”
The picture that Bill showed us of her secured to the hospital bed with a patch over her eye. She looked like she had been beaten. Evan had hurt her because of me. I fucked up his plan that night and someone had to pay. She was his victim. His easy target.
She leans over onto her side and places her hand on my chest. She pushes me back, and I roll over, bringing her with me so she straddles my hips.
“I’m here now, Eve.” I push her wild hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “And I promise no one will ever touch you but me. Do you understand that?”
She gives me a smile and leans over, bringing her lips close to mine. “I do.”
FIFTY-SEVEN
KASHTON
After our conversation, her stomach started growling. I managed to get her to crawl out of bed and made her breakfast. Thankfully Tyson keeps the kitchen stocked because someone is always staying here. She chose waffles and a side of toast.
“How long are we hiding out here?” she asks from inside the shower.
I go to respond when the doorbell rings. I look up in the mirror, and she opens the glass door, arching a brow. “Expecting someone?” she asks.
“Nope,” I say, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my hips. “Stay here.” Closing the bathroom door behind me, I check her cell on the end of the bed. I see it’s not even eight in the morning yet, so I’m confused about who could be here. I know Tyson keeps this place locked up tight when it’s closed. Stepping into the living room, I grab my gun from the front zipper pocket of my bag. It’s always loaded and ready to fire.
I make my way to the door to the apartment and open it to find Tyson standing in the hallway. “Ringing your own doorbell?”
His eyes drop to my gun at my side and then run over the towel and my bare chest. “I wasn’t just going to walk right in. I didn’t know what you’d be doing.”
I step to the side, and he enters the apartment. “I just wanted to give you a heads-up that Haidyn and Saint are on their way here.”
Fuck. “You told them—”
“No,” he cuts me off. “Bill has called a meeting. I was instructed to tell you to join us.”
Bill knows I’m hiding out with Eve; he’s aware she needed rest, so for him to call a meeting, it must be important.
I place my gun on the kitchen counter. “How long do I have?”
“Maybe twenty minutes. But they don’t know you’re here. So if you go downstairs before they arrive, then they’ll just think that you beat them to Blackout.”
I nod. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Of course.” He goes to walk out.
“What is this meeting about?” I need to prepare Eve as much as I can. She’s had enough surprises over the past couple of days.
“You know what I know.” With that, he exits the apartment.
I return to the bathroom to find her out of the shower and brushing her teeth. Her pretty eyes meet mine in the mirror before she rinses her mouth out. “Who was it?”
“Haidyn and Saint are on their way here. We’re having a meeting downstairs.”
She turns off the water and bows her head. I understand why she doesn’t want to see them. Eve now has to face them after finding out what Evan did to her. Now more than ever I’m glad that I didn’t tell her that my brothers and I know that our fathers raped her.