Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
But it's still not enough to stop my heart from cracking.
"Pardonne-moi, je t'en supplie..." Forgive me, I beg you.
I can see that he means every word. That he's hurting for me more and more.
"I am the one at fault. There are things I wish I would have done differently, but..." Sylvain swallows hard. "I cannot change the past. I can only beg for your forgiveness. And ask that you believe me when I say...you are different." His tone becomes fierce and urgent. "I never touched any of them. Never even thought of it."
It's as if he doesn't care about anything except convincing me of the truth.
"You are the only one I wanted. The only one I loved."
He's saying all the right things, but it's just not enough, and my tears simply won't stop falling.
"I want to believe you," I choke out, "but you've just lied to me so many times."
Because Sylvain...
He lied to me about Viktor. Lied to me about these tests. Lied to me about all of these women. Is there even anything about him—about us—that was ever true?
"Liana—"
He reaches for me, I instinctively rear back, and pain flashes over his features.
"I'm s-sorry." I don't want to hurt him, I truly don't.
But if he touches me, I also know I'll break.
For good.
"Will you listen to me?"
All I can do is cry harder as I shake my head.
How...how can he not see what this means?
How can he not realize...that a part of me could never understand why he chose me?
How...how does he not know that him pitying me...makes more sense than the idea of Monsieur Le Dernier falling in love with a silly little pickpocket like me?
"Listen to me, please."
Why can't he just stop and let me go?
"These women...are why I wanted, needed you to be strong and brave."
"Please stop," I sob out.
"Their secrets will be your secrets, too."
"S-Stop, please—"
"Because if you stay with me, they'll also be yours to protect—"
"I said, stop!"
And yet...it's as if Sylvain doesn't hear me at all.
"I didn't know it then, but I know it now. I don't need any tests to know that you're the one I've been waiting for—"
"Stop, just stop!"
Why does he keep giving me hope when we both know I'm not the girl for him?
"I don't want this anymore," I cry out. "So just stop!"
But when I try leaving one more time—
"I can't."
It's no use. He has me pinned against the wall in no time, and I'm trapped.
"Let me go," I beg him.
"Never."
His handsome face is hard as steel, his dark blue eyes nearly feral.
"Can't you see it won't work?"
"Can't you see that means nothing to me?" he growls back. "The one thing I never lied about was who I was." Violence underscores his tone, and all I can see in his eyes is someone who's willing to tear kingdoms apart if that's what it will take to chain me by his side.
"You knew what I was when you married me."
I start pounding his chest, try shoving him away and kicking him, but nothing works.
"Do you really think a monster like me would ever let you go?"
Chapter Twelve
EVERYTHING BECAME CLEAR to Sylvain the moment his wife said she no longer wanted him.
"What do you think you're doing?"
There would come a point in time when it was no longer enough to bare one's soul.
"Let me go!"
And more drastic action was needed—
"Put me down!"
—even if it meant tossing his wife over his shoulder as he carried her out of the room.
Sylvain's photographic memory had him wasting little time. In moments, he was exactly where he needed to be.
His wife cried out in shock as he tossed her unceremoniously on the bed. But even though she was remarkably quick in recovering and once again attempting to escape—
"Not so fast, ma petite."
Sylvain had her trapped under his big body in the next second, the military-grade blanket whipped over them for privacy. Since he had no time to search for surveillance cameras, this would have to do in ensuring that nobody saw what was designed for his eyes alone.
Liana was now staring up at him in shock, her dazed blue eyes telling him that she had finally figured out what he had in mind.
"You can't possibly be serious," she whispered.
A humorless smile twisted over his lips. "Then you clearly don't know me well enough."
"But this is in—"
"Enough." He was done talking. Done negotiating. It was time to claim what was his, and make her understand that he was hers, had always been hers, and would always be hers.
"Sylvain—"
The rest of her words disappeared into the ruthless possession of his kiss, and this time he gave her no chance to think. His tongue thrust inside of her mouth, demanding her submission. He was relentless and methodical. It was stroke after stroke after stroke until his wife finally sobbed in surrender, and she began kissing him back as her arms wrapped around his neck.