Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
His eyes searched mine through the glass and his brows knitted as he must have spotted Leo behind me. “Get away from him, Moni. It's not safe.”
I shook my head. “Lei, listen to me. I'm safe. Your father and I were just talking. There's no immediate danger here. In fact. . .I want you to let Leo and your uncle freely go—”
“What?!” Lei's face contorted into a mask of fury. He fisted his hands and the veins on his neck bulged. “He dies today.”
I stepped back. “He can’t die today! Lei. . .just. . .let him go. I’ll explain.”
“Are you two friends now?”
“What? I’ve got answers and things are making sense—”
“I’m glad you’ve got your answers, now I want his death.”
Leo chuckled behind me. “He is his father’s son. Indeed.”
I swallowed. “Please, Lei, just do this for me. Let your father and uncle leave so—”
“Why would I do that?”
“You have the battle soon and—”
“I don’t give a fuck about that battle!” Lei gestured at his men. “Knock the fucking door down. Get inside to get her!”
The pounding to the door continued.
I shivered. “Lei, stop!”
“I don't trust him, Moni, and you shouldn’t either. You don’t know what my father is capable of—”
“I do—”
“He killed people last night—”
“I know.” Guilt gripped my heart. “But. . .”
“There are no buts to that.”
Fuck.
I turned to Leo.
He gave me a sad smile and set the photo album on a nearby table. “I’m sorry, Monique.”
“What are you sorry about?”
Then, he whipped a blade in front of him and again I had no idea where it had come from.
I widened my eyes and edged back. “Hold up, Leo. . .w-what are you going to do?”
Lei screamed on the other side of the window. “Don’t you fucking touch her, father! Please!! Don’t!!”
“I’m sorry, Monique.” Leo kept the blade between us and crept forward. “We’re going to have to go with Plan B.”
Chapter twelve
The Price of Her Safety
Lei
I watched in horror as my father pressed the cold blade against Moni's throat.
Only a thin pane of glass stood between us. It was a fragile, flimsy shield against the looming threat.
Please, God. I can’t lose her. I wouldn’t survive.
My entire being thrummed with an uncontrollable primal urge to burst through that barrier and save her, but the gravity of the moment was like a physical anchor holding me back.
I was fast but my father’s deadly speed was unmatched by anyone in the East.
Plus, there was the simple fact that he would not hesitate to take her life.
My voice lowered to barely a whisper. “Father, please. . .don’t hurt her. P-please. . ."
For a moment I hoped he would see reason, recognize the pain in my voice, remember who he used to be but he turned back to Moni with an empty gaze that sent ripples of fear down my spine.
Goddamn it.
Terrified, I gazed at that blade next to her delicate neck—gleaming and sharp.
“Father. . .”
Turning back my way, he gave me a sad smile. “Give your uncle and me safe passage out of the East and I will not hurt Monique.”
I gritted my teeth.
Safe passage? You psycho piece of shit. You don’t deserve it.
I had come here with every intention of battling my father, of ending his reign of manipulative terror, but seeing Moni so close to danger shifted everything.
Now I stood there, staring through the fragile pane that separated us, ready to do damn near anything he desired.
My heart ached with a mixture of dread and an intense, consuming love for Moni.
Please. . .just don’t take her away.
She was the light that had pierced my darkness. Her presence had been like the first breath of spring after a relentless winter.
Refreshing.
Invigorating.
Utterly irreplaceable.
I’d thought Chanel was important—my everything.
But then Moni entered my life like the sweetest most beautiful melody and suddenly, I realized the horrific silence I’d been living in all this time.
I cannot lose Moni. I wouldn’t want to keep on breathing.
Her laughter filled spaces in my soul and heart that I hadn’t known were empty.
Her touch healed unseen wounds I had long accepted as permanent.
She taught me what it meant to be truly seen, not as a Mountain Master or a pawn in my father’s never-ending game of power, but as Lei.
Just Lei.
The thought of her in danger, under the cold blade of my father’s indifference, ignited a raging inferno within me.
In that moment, I knew there was nothing I wouldn't do, no price I wouldn’t pay, to keep her safe.
This is so fucked up.
My father’s demand for safe passage—a ticket to further his schemes—was a poison I would willingly drink if it meant Moni’s safety.
I let out a long breath. “Okay, Father. You want to safely leave the East. I agree.”
“You agree?”
“Yes. You get safe passage.”
“And if you don’t give that to me, son. . .” My father placed his view back on Moni’s face. “I will kill her right in front of you.”