Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Everything I’ve done has been for her. To be good enough for her, to show her that I’m capable of giving her whatever she could dream of. While it’s not necessarily clean money I’ve made, these rich fuckers didn’t get their fortunes by being virtuous either. I’ve committed my share of atrocious crimes to get what I have, including the occasional hit when absolutely necessary. But don’t try to tell me these one percent assholes don’t have blood on their hands for every dollar in their possession. The difference is, I seek out and destroy evil while they slaughtered innocence. Corporate sanctioned murder is still murder.
The entire time I was in the city, all I dreamed about was Kat. I was sure that despite all the horrid shit she’d said to me that she felt the loss too. Our love was forbidden, clandestine, yet no matter what happens in our separate lives, our souls will always belong to each other. So when I saw the fuckin’ wedding announcement, I wanted to burn Wainscott Hollow and all of Montauk to the fucking ground. But that wouldn’t be prudent, so I did the next best thing. I bought everything Kat loves, every inch of space around her, because it was the only way to get close to her. She sure as hell wasn’t marrying me.
If I couldn’t own Kat, I’d own her refuge.
“Heath.” She calls my name.
I’m sure it’s the wind playing tricks on my mind, the dunes flooding me with repressed memories. I keep walking up to the estate to kick Henry out of his bed.
“Heath, wait.”
I stop but don’t look behind me, not caring to see the black void I’ve been living in for a decade reflected back to me. I’m haunted simply by her voice and the memory of her love.
“Heath,” she whispers as she nears. Her sweet touch alights on my shoulder. “What the hell are you doing back here?”
“To recover everything that was taken from me.”
“What was taken from you?” She moves fluidly like the waves and stands in front of me.
I don’t want to look at her because the pain is so acute. Yet, I’m fueled by her beauty, and I breathe her in as if she’s my only source of oxygen, and without her, I’d die a thousand deaths.
“You, Kat. You were taken from me. One day we’re in love, about to run away and start our lives, and the next, you’re telling me you feel nothing for me, that it was all a lie and what we shared wasn’t mutual? My sanity, my peace of mind, my faith in humanity, it all died when you shut me out. You were all I had in this world, Kat.”
“It was my only choice. I did it to protect you, Heath.”
“Well, Kat, I can protect my fucking self. And I sure as hell could have protected you better than your pathetic husband or your piece of shit brother.”
Why does she still have a pull on me? Why can’t I shake her off like I do everything else? I told myself that buying the land was about Henry, to finally bring him to his knees. To show the pompous ass that the poor, white trash kid from the Bronx could outsmart him and outbuy him despite all his connections and his pedigree. Money might get you far, but you can’t buy magnetism.
But who am I fucking kidding, in the end, if I’m honest, everything I did was for her. To make her see me as worthy so she’d want me again.
“I never believed you were unworthy,” Kat whispers. She casts her eyes down to the sand beneath her bare feet. She has the nerve to look contrite.
She loses her footing and falls to her knees when I push her away from me. Her touch is like poison seeping into my skin. My fingers circle her soft, delicate throat, and I squeeze.
“You ruined me, Kat. You cursed me to damnation. You killed all the benevolence inside me and left an empty husk. All the betrayal, the beatings, all the bullshit Henry and his minions put me through here, was nothing compared to the brutal pain you lodged deep in my heart.”
Kat’s hands grip mine, her nails digging into my flesh. She’s hoping I’ll loosen my hold because of the pain she’s inflicting, but I welcome it. I’ll take anything she’d be willing to give me, still a dog begging for scraps at her feet.
She was my world, and all I was to her was the charity case her father took in. The pathetic boy from the wrong side of the tracks that she used to slum with before she settled where she belonged, with the upper crust of society.
Her creamy skin turns a light shade of blue as she tries to grasp a breath. “I could kill you, Kat, squeeze a little more and end you.” I push her down on the ground, flexing my fingers. “But damn you, because killing you would be killing myself. I don’t want to live in a world without you in it. You’ve bewitched me, Katelyn Shaw. Ruined me. You’ve destroyed me, but I still can’t bear the idea of hurting you.”