Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 30269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
“Regrets are all I have.”
The last several weeks play through my mind in reverse, each moment flashing with vivid clarity.
Oliver standing in my doorway, a nightly silhouette, our connection built on shared tragedy and need.
Liam taking me in his bed, his claim on my body the linchpin that broke me down so he could put me together again.
The cliff.
A sob breaks free. “You were gone!”
“I know.” He folds his hands around mine. “Whatever happened while I was gone is not your fault. You have to know that.”
“I tried to jump.”
He stiffens, and several suffocating beats pass as his complexion turns to ash. “What do you mean, you tried to jump?”
“Off the cliff. If Liam hadn’t pulled me back, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Novalee—” His voice cracks on my name, and I can do nothing but watch as he struggles to speak. “I’m…God, I’m so fucking sorry.”
“For what? Coming back to me? Look what you came back to.” I search his eyes, bracing for judgment, but only find tears of grief escaping.
He wipes them away. “I came back for you.”
“Sebastian…” I place my palm over his heart, staggered by the miracle in front of me. “How are you here?”
“It wasn’t easy. I would have gotten to you sooner if I could.”
“Why couldn’t you?” Our eyes hold as I thread my fingers through his dark hair.
“It wasn’t safe.” With a sigh, he leans into my touch, and his strands slip through my fingers like silk. “Getting to you was risky, but I had to see you.”
“What happened on that plane?”
“We were sabotaged.”
My heart drops, the implications icing my blood. “Someone tried to kill you.”
“They almost succeeded. If Tatum and I hadn’t bailed out at the last second…”
“Who did this?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Until we know for sure, it’s better that we stay dead. No one can know.”
A shudder racks me to the bone. So many times, I begged the universe to bring him back, despite knowing it was impossible. But now he’s here…
And we still can’t be together.
“I can’t go back without you.” I prepare myself for the objection I know is coming.
“You have to.”
“You can’t walk back into my life and leave me again.” More tears sting before I can brush them away.
“Novalee—”
“No!” My voice rises. “Take me with you.”
“I can’t.”
“Sebastian, please—”
“Baby, I can’t.”
“Why?” I think of the cliff, the memorial, the nights spent edging toward oblivion just to feel something other than his absence.
Hysteria has me in a death grip.
“I’m not going back without you!”
He slaps a palm over my mouth. “The guard will hear you.”
I force myself still, though my lungs burn with the effort. Slowly, he drops his hand, and I hold his gaze, searching for a crack in his resolve.
I find none.
“If you don’t go home with Oliver, we’ll spend the rest of our lives running. The Brotherhood won’t stop until they find us. Liam won’t stop.”
“I don’t care.”
“Listen to me.” He takes me by the shoulders. “Before the crash, Ivermann was desperate.”
Just the mention of Axel sends a bolt of fear through me, as if my body still stores the night he almost…
I swallow hard, and the memory disappears. “What does that monster have to do with this?”
“He made claims that go to the top of the Brotherhood, people I’ve known my whole life. They might be compromised, Novalee.”
“What are you talking about? Who?”
“I can’t say yet. We’re close to getting answers, but I need time. I need you to trust me.”
“Of course I trust you, but how can I walk into that tower and pretend you’re still…gone?”
“Because you have to.”
“What if I can’t?”
“I know it won’t be easy, but can you honestly say you never want to see your brother or Elise again?” He pulls me in until our foreheads meet. “Because that’s the cost of running.”
I can’t object to his reasoning when, deep down, I know he’s right. Disappearing now would devastate Elise, especially with the pregnancy making her so vulnerable.
“And what about…?” Sebastian falters, hesitation strangling his question. “What about Liam?”
From across the ocean, the chancellor still stands between us whether I want him to or not.
“You’re all that matters. I choose you.”
“I know that, but I won’t let you live in hiding, giving up your career, your family, even Liam Castle.” His tone holds no jealousy, only a resigned understanding that cuts deeper than accusation.
“Give me a chance to fix this. If shit goes sideways, I promise I’ll come back for you, and we’ll run until we can’t run anymore.”
“How long?” I ask, defeated.
“I don’t know, but I swear, I’ll come back for you. I always will.”
The vow solidifies, but as much as I want to believe in its power, I know all too well how fate and the Brotherhood—and everything in between—tend to intervene. For weeks, I existed in a world without him, my mind ensnared in a reality where his touch was just a memory.