Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
But a physical device? And multiple for redundancy?
That’s the sort of cleverness that’ll get me fucking killed.
I turn back to the table, struggling to maintain my composure. How the fuck did I let it come this far? When she took that photograph I should have hired someone to handle it immediately. Hell, I should’ve wrestled her to the ground and physically deleted it myself.
Instead, I was soft. I let her have the victory thinking she wouldn’t do a damn thing with it.
I misjudged her.
Big fucking time.
In some ways it’s impressive. I’m not sure most people would think that far ahead. Tallie’s clearly much more than the perfect little crime lord princess she seems. Daughter of privilege, but it didn’t dull her.
No, maybe some of her father’s sharpness rubbed off.
Which makes her fucking dangerous.
“You have no idea what you’re doing right now, Talin.” I speak as calmly and as measured as I can. “This isn’t a game. You don’t want to blackmail me.”
“You’re right, I don’t.” Her face is pale. Her chin is up. She’s trying her best to sit with a straight back and to project strength, but I see the way her fingers tremble as they nervously rub together. All these years Tallie’s been living around men like me, hell, around men much worse, but she’s never had to dirty herself. They’ve kept her clean since she’s worth more that way.
Now though? She’s climbing into the fucking mud, and I bet she doesn't like it.
“Then drop it. What I’m doing isn’t your business. It’s work, that’s all.”
“You’re lying to me. I want to know. We’re married now, Brenden, and whatever you’re doing involves me whether you like it or not.” She flattens her hands on the table in front of her palms up. “Please, we don’t have to be enemies.”
“My allies don’t hold dirt over my head.”
“You’re not giving me much of a choice.”
“There’s always a choice, Talin. You don’t like the alternatives.” I shove the chair aside. It falls over and clatters to the floor. Her eyes never leave mine, though her shoulders flinch like she wants to protect herself. “What the fuck do you want from me? Honestly, what do you want out of this? You want money? You want power? I have nothing to give you. I have nothing left.”
It hurts, admitting this out loud, but we both know it’s true. I’m not exactly a high-value person in the family anymore. My father was happy to toss me aside and Arsen only wanted me for the potential value of my thieving skills, assuming he can twist me to his own benefit. Tallie’s a soft chain around my ankle and nothing else.
But she stays straight and fierce. “I want out.”
The way she says it makes me pause. Some of my anger ebbs. “You want… out? What does that mean?”
“All this. The life. This world. Our sham of a marriage. I want out.”
She snarls it with the conviction of a true believer.
Well, fuck.
This was extremely unexpected. I take a moment to drink her in and realize what I took to be nerves is actually something else—
It’s rage.
Pure and simple anger.
A deep, dark, bitter well of it, flooding up through her, and it’s definitely not all aimed at me.
Hell, I doubt I’m even remotely the cause of whatever she’s got hiding inside.
Which is fascinating.
Tallie comes off a lot like her sister does: pretty, cultured, a creature of delights and comforts. But this side of her is dark and wicked, a hidden strength I hadn’t thought she contained.
Another mistake on my part.
I bend over and pick up the chair. I set it down with a sharp clack and lower myself carefully into the seat. I fold my hands in front of her and meet her at her level.
“How badly do you want it?”
Her jaw twitches. The corner of her eye wrinkles. “All my life.”
“How far will you go?”
“As far as I have to.”
“What about your siblings? Your sister? You’ll have to leave them behind.”
Her nose wrinkles for the briefest moment. “I’ll deal with it.”
“You know what you’re asking, right?”
“I want a way out, Brenden. No more family, no more oversight, no more living in the spotlight of my father’s name. I want to be my own person for once in my life.” The desperation spilling off her makes my heart flutter. I fucking swear, I’ve never seen a woman more beautiful than she is right now. “I don’t care what you’re doing. I really, really don’t. I’ll keep your secrets, whatever they are, so long as it ends with my future in my hands.”
It’s tempting to stretch this out. I could tease her, push her to breaking, see exactly what she’s made of. If I’m careful, I might even get her to beg.
But I don’t want any of that.
Instead, I bask in the glow of her anger and determination, and it warms me in ways I never imagined another person could.