Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 182255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 911(@200wpm)___ 729(@250wpm)___ 608(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 911(@200wpm)___ 729(@250wpm)___ 608(@300wpm)
“Oh, your face… Look at all that guilt.” Gene laughed before turning back to Grace. “Bet you don’t know that your golden boy is a class-A pervert. Always has been. He used to belong to Graffiti, that kink club in the city. The one where people wear leather and chains and call each other Master. And Autumn wasn’t just his wife; she was his slave. Seth controlled her. She couldn’t so much as put on a goddamn sock without his permission. The whole precinct knew it.”
Grace flinched as if he’d struck her. Then she shook her head in denial, her mouth in a flat, mutinous line.
Heavenly wanted to scream at Gene, but her throat had closed up. Her hands shook. Besides, begging him for any sort of mercy was a waste of breath.
“I didn’t think the bastard could get any more depraved.” Gene sounded almost conversational now. “But I underestimated him. When he rolled into town with this bitch and the doctor? Beck couldn’t take his eyes off her. At first, I thought he just had a stiff cock for her. Made sense—she’s young, pretty, and fuckable. But then…” Gene paused dramatically, like he was savoring her destruction. “Then I realized she was eye-fucking him right back—in front of Seth. And instead of losing his shit and beating in his pal’s face, Seth smiled, like he was excited knowing another man wanted to rail his fiancée.”
Heavenly’s stomach churned. He was twisting everything, making the love she felt for Beck sound sick and wrong.
“Stop,” Grace whispered, her voice barely audible.
Gene ignored her. “The more I watched them, I realized Seth doesn’t just enjoy knowing that Beck wants to fuck her. He gets off on her spreading her legs for him.” His gaze locked on Heavenly, cold and calculating. “They both fuck you, don’t they, sweetheart? Yeah… Do they plow you one at a time? Or share you like a blow-up doll?”
“Stop.” Grace’s voice broke, louder now, desperate.
But it was too late. Gene and his nuclear tongue had dropped the ultimate bomb. Now he stood, smiling and enjoying the fallout.
Heavenly’s heart pounded so hard she swore it might burst through her ribs.
For a moment, she considered denying Gene’s accusations. After all, Grace was worried about Carl. She’d already suffered a massive shock today. She didn’t need another. It might even be a kindness to insist that Gene had spewed lies to divide them.
But Heavenly refused to lie when they might all be dead in an hour. Not when this might be the last conversation Grace ever had about her son.
She slowly turned to Seth’s mom, whose eyes were red rimmed from crying in a face pale with shock.
“It’s true,” Heavenly murmured, her words shockingly steady.
Grace’s breath hitched. Her hand flew to her lips as if she was utterly speechless.
“But Gene has everything wrong,” Heavenly assured, her voice cracking with tears. “I love Seth with my whole heart. He’s good and brave and kind. He makes me feel treasured, protected in a way I’ve never felt.”
Grace’s lips trembled. “Then why…”
“Because I also love Beck. I didn’t mean to. I never planned it. But he challenges me. He makes me laugh. And they—” She sniffled, willing Grace to understand. “They both love me. And they both accept that. No, they’re happy about it. Not because they’re perverts or broken or wrong. Because we’re all just following our hearts.” She paused to swallow past the lump in her throat. “We know our love doesn’t fit into a neat little box, but together we feel complete.”
Grace made a small sound—something between a gasp and a sob.
“Beck and Seth proposed to me together,” Heavenly continued, her voice shaking. “And I said yes. Please don’t be angry with Seth.” She reached for Grace’s hand, gripping it desperately. “He didn’t want you to find out like this. None of us did. He planned to tell you tomorrow. He waited because he didn’t want to ruin your wedding.”
Tears filled Grace’s eyes. Heavenly wished she knew the woman better. She couldn’t tell if Seth’s mother was disgusted, just trying to understand, or something else entirely.
Heavenly pressed on. “He’s been trying to figure out how to break the news to you for months. He was terrified you’d disown him, like you threatened with the twins. Terrified you wouldn’t love him and—” Her voice broke again as sobs overtook her. “He loves you so much. You’re one of the most important people in his life.”
Grace’s tears spilled over, streaming down her soft face. The woman squeezed her fingers. What was she thinking?
“I’m sorry we weren’t honest with you, but I won’t apologize for our love,” Heavenly whispered, raw and broken. “What the three of us have is real and beautiful. You don’t have to accept Beck and me. We understand. But please don’t shut Seth out of your life. It would break him.”