Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“Charlotte?”
She realized she was standing on the top step, staring blankly at the massive door before her. Get it together. She dredged up a smile for Liam. “Charlie. Please. No one calls me Charlotte unless I’m in trouble.”
He nodded, but he studied her like she was a bug under a microscope. “You don’t have to do this, you know. He’d find another way if you changed your mind.”
She hadn’t known him long, but she recognized the words as the truth. Whatever Aiden’s endgame, he wouldn’t let a little speed bump like her bolting affect his plan. In reality, though, it wasn’t about him. It came down to her—her and Dmitri Romanov. She may have never met the man face-to-face, but she’d seen his dirty work the few short years she’d worked as a cop. She’d seen how he’d benefited from cops turning against everything they were supposed to stand for.
They chose that. Those cops compromised their honor of their own free will.
She knew that. Romanov hadn’t put a gun to their heads and forced them into anything—he’d just offered a truly outstanding amount of money for them to look the other way when it suited him.
It made her sick to think about.
“I know.” She gave Liam a weak smile. Then she took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked into the O’Malley home.
* * *
Keira O’Malley froze at the bottom of the stairs as the woman walked into their house like she owned the place. She was pretty in an alternative sort of way, her long white-blond hair pulled back to reveal that her temple was shaved on one side, and though she wore a designer dress, she didn’t look comfortable in it. More than that, though, she was a fucking stranger. “Who the hell are you?”
That was when she caught sight of Liam at the woman’s back. Keira waited, sure that he’d toss this chick out on her ass, but he just followed her inside and shut the door behind him. He shot Keira a look like she was the one out of line. “Keira, meet Charlotte—Charlie. This is Aiden’s fiancée. Charlie, this is Keira, Aiden’s youngest sister.”
Keira clutched at the banister to keep from toppling over. She searched Liam’s face, but there wasn’t any amusement to indicate that this was a goddamn joke. She shook her head, but it didn’t do a single thing to stop the rushing in her ears. Aiden’s fiancée? When had her brother found time to get engaged? Does everyone know about this except me?
She turned without another word and marched up the stairs. Every single fucking person in her family was looking out for themselves first. If Aiden thought she was going to sit here like a good girl until he shipped her off to be the slave-bride of Dmitri Romanov…
Her traitorous body warmed at the thought of what, exactly, would be required of her if she married Dmitri. He was beautiful in the way of fallen angels, even if he was an evil bastard. God had really broken the mold with that one—or he would have, if she believed in God anymore.
Something terrifyingly like a sob lurched in her chest, and she broke into a run the rest of the way to her room. No one called after her, no one chased her down to see if she was okay. It wasn’t self-pity that drove her to the window of her room and had her wrenching it open. It wasn’t.
That’s always been my problem. I feel too damn much.
Sometimes she feared all the feelings would suck her under and she’d never see the light again. The only thing that kept the sea at bay was the drugs and alcohol. She’d dialed it back a little—she’d had to because Aiden had cut off her money and she wasn’t desperate enough to trade other things for coke. But getting through the day stone-cold sober?
Out of the question.
Keira shimmied out the window, ripping her jeans in the process, but she managed to climb onto the fire escape that ran down the building a few feet over. It groaned beneath her weight, but it held, just like it always had. Through it all, one word drummed through her head in time with her heart. Free, free, free. It was a lie. Everything in that house was a lie these days.
Maybe it always had been.
She slowed her pace as she rounded the corner, keeping her head down, determined not to bring attention to herself. Despite what Aiden thought, she knew how to fly beneath notice when it suited her. Keira brought out her phone and scrolled through the handful of texted invitations tonight, and picked the closest one. She wasn’t trying to endanger herself, but staying in that house a second longer than necessary was more than she could bear.