Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 80550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Is he actually telling me that if I tried killing him now, he’d let me?
“But …” I mutter.
“But what?” he says.
But I don’t want him dead. Even after everything he’s done to me, I can’t. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Slowly but surely, I’ve fallen in love with the monster. And I don’t know how to stop it from ruining me.
Tears well up in my eyes, and his face immediately softens as regret seeps in. His hand reaches for my face, and he wipes away the single tear that rolls down my cheek.
He sighs again. “Tesoro, please don’t cry. There’s nothing I hate more than watching you cry.” He leans in to press a kiss to my forehead. And then he whispers, “Tell me why you want Lucio dead so badly.”
I sniff and wipe away another tear, then look down at the bed sheets, trying to gather my thoughts.
Should I tell him the truth? Or will it bite me in the ass?
I glance at him.
Can I trust this man? I have to. There’s no other way. I can make sure my mother is safe. This is the only way.
Two years ago
“… cancer …”
It’s the only word in the sentence that the doctor spoke that I heard.
None of it matters.
Nothing he says.
Nothing changes the outcome.
Cancer.
My mother has cancer, and I’m going to lose her.
“There are treatments, right?” Mom asks the doctor, but my mind is completely fazed out of this world.
“Yes, but they are … expensive,” the doctor replies.
“We’ll make it work. Somehow.” Mom squeezes my hand. “I want to give it my all.”
She’s such a fighter. I just wish there was something I could do.
She doesn’t have health insurance and barely any money left after she divorced Dad. He took all the money with him years ago.
What can I do? My job barely pays enough to take care of my own bills.
I have no additional money saved and no extra fortune lying around. There’s only … my dad.
I swallow away the lump in my throat and pull my phone out of my pocket to look for the phone number I haven’t called in over a decade.
Maybe it’s about time I gave him a call.
In the rain, I wait in front of the screen until the gates to his property finally open, and I run up toward the mansion.
“Dad?!” I keep knocking on the door until finally a butler opens up.
“Miss Runner? What are you doing here?”
“I have to talk to my dad. Can I come in?”
The butler steps aside to let me pass, and I swiftly enter the house. The mansion is sickly white, completely devoid of any color, and I hate how sterile it smells.
My dad shuffles out of the living room, a newspaper tucked under his arm.
“Stella. How nice of you to finally show your face.” Sarcasm laces his voice, but I ignore it.
“Dad, I need your help.”
He rolls his eyes. “Of course you do.”
“You know I wouldn’t come here if it wasn’t important,” I say. “It’s because of Mom. She has cancer.”
He frowns and puts the paper on the cabinet in the hallway. “I’m sorry.”
“She doesn’t have insurance, and she can’t afford the bills for the medical procedures necessary to save her life,” I say. “Can you please, please help us?”
He stares at me for a moment, and I can’t tell at all what he’s thinking or feeling. All emotions have been drained out of his face.
“I could …”
My heart skips a beat.
“But I’ve been disappointed long enough to know it never pays me back.”
Wow.
“She was your wife.”
“And?”
The carelessness is astounding.
My brows furrow. “Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“It did, once.” He clears his throat. “Life is hard.”
I’m still dripping with rain, and not once has he offered me a towel. “She’s my mother. If you care about me, if you want me back in your life, please help her.”
He sucks in a breath through his nostrils and stares at me for a moment. “Fine. If you get a husband, I will.”
My jaw drops. “What?”
“You heard me. Marry someone decent, and give me an heir, and I might consider it.”
What the fuck?
“Are you serious?” I ask.
“Serious as can be. You’re my daughter, too, you know.”
My jaw tightens, and without saying another word, I turn around and walk back to the door.
“The offer is on the table, just so you know. I’m willing to pay for all of her expenses … as long as you do what I ask of you.”
What he’s asking of me is to throw myself into a marriage with a man he deems acceptable. This isn’t a proposal. It’s blackmail, and my heart is being pawned off to save my mother. But if it’s the only way I can save her, I have to try. She means more to me than my freedom.
Present
I swallow after telling him my story, and I avert my gaze in order to deal with the squeezing palpitations snaking around my heart. “When my father told me to marry someone before he would help my mother, it felt like it was all a big joke to him, but there was nothing else I could do, no one else I could turn to. One of my friends knew Lucio, and she connected me with him. We dated for a while, and it didn’t end up in anything except arguments, but I did borrow money from him to help pay for my mother’s medical expenses.”