Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 174623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 698(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 698(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
He grew up with one.
He killed him at sixteen.
Now, after a lifetime of believing some men only stop hurting people when they’re put in the ground, Cerberus is forcing Nyx to confront the darkness he’s carried with him for decades.
Juliet has spent nearly twelve years running.
New names. New cities. No attachments. No chance for the husband who nearly killed her to ever find her again.
Until he does.
Nyx knows how to eliminate the threat.
Juliet knows what it costs when a dangerous man decides he knows what’s best for her.
Protecting her should be simple.
Falling for her changes everything.
Because Nyx may be the safest man Juliet has ever known.
He may also be the most dangerous
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Juliet
I'm no stranger to fear.
I didn't grow up as a fearful child.
As the only daughter of wealthy parents, I was doted on. I was given everything I ever asked for, plus some.
The expectations were high, but I learned from a very young age that if I did what was expected of me, then life would be golden.
It helped that I've always had a helpful personality. I would often go above and beyond without even being asked. I wanted people to look at me and know that they could come to me for help.
No ask was too big or too small. If you needed help, then Clara Whitmore was your girl.
I didn't realize just how quickly fear could grow.
It only took a tiny seed, the whispered threat of consequences, or a sidelong glance of warning at just the right time for me to stand up and take notice.
Graham Whitmore was every socialite mother's wet dream.
Deep pockets, family connections to nearly everyone who mattered on the East Coast, and I was lucky enough to have him set his eyes on me.
A whirlwind romance right out of high school, a quick engagement, and an even faster wedding landed me married at twenty. The rumors spread, of course, as they always do when someone from our circle gets married quickly, or what some would consider, too young. I have no doubt they were tracking their calendars and waiting for babies to be born, fully believing that the time would surely be less than nine months.
They were wrong.
It wasn't a shotgun wedding.
We weren't forced to marry.
We chose, as people madly in love often do.
We were ready to start our lives together.
Sadly, it didn't take Graham long to change.
In his eyes, our marriage license wasn't just a piece of paper connecting us for life.
It was a receipt.
A purchase order.
Proof of ownership.
I'd be lying to myself if I had said there weren't red flags from the beginning, but a young girl in love can easily look past those and explain them away.
He wanted me to look nice in public, somehow sexy but also not available.
If a man approached me with the intent to flirt, it wasn't the man's wrongdoing but mine.
It wasn't blame. It was possession, and the idea of the one and only Graham Whitmore loving me enough that he didn't want others approaching me was the best thing that could ever happen. He was protective of our union and me. He took our wedding vows seriously.
Simple reminders that I was his irked me, but before long, simple reminders escalated into arguments.
Arguments escalated into rage-filled fits, with him throwing things near me and hitting walls.
It took less than a year for me to start waking up in the morning, terrified about what might happen that day if I did something to upset him.
I haven't told a soul. My parents don't have a clue about his level of control and the violent outbursts at home.
My friends...
What friends?
Getting into a serious relationship and getting married so young severed most of my friendships soon after graduation.
My former friends had different life goals, and their paths looked nothing like mine.
I have acquaintances, people we socialize with, but there isn't one person in my life whom I would trust with the secrets of what I face at home. I would bet money they'd turn right around and tell Graham, hoping for a bite of the pie he's quick to dangle over my head.
My family's money is substantial, but it will never compare to what his family has, another thing he was quick to remind me of from the start. Yet one more red flag that didn't register as one until I was in too deep to get out.
Aren't you glad you're marrying into a rich family? when we first got engaged quickly turned into you'd have nothing without me. I'd destroy your family if you ever left.
My family, those ingrained expectations I met each and every time, is what has kept me with him for the last three years. I know what he's capable of in business. I've seen firsthand the power he wields and how easily and without remorse he can cut a multi-generational opponent off at the knees.