Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 82524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
It’s a big glass atrium with views out to the pine trees and the walls around the edge of the property. Plants grow in profusion all over the place. I keep an old local lady on staff to tend the garden year round and she does a magnificent job. Flowers, vines, small ferns, like a jungle in miniature. I fetch a drink and prowl to the far window, staring out into the night.
This was a fucking unmitigated disaster.
I worked my ass off on this plan. I had everything ready, all the invitations sent, the guests prepared. It was going to be the world’s greatest forced wedding, a show of my strength, proof that the Lords of Ashes are masters of this world. No man, woman, or child can resist me. No politician can stop me, no business magnate can buy me. I sit astride them all.
Instead, it was a rushed fucking mess.
“You’re brooding.” Silas approaches through the foliage. He swirls a glass and ice clinks. “You must be in your happy place.”
“How are the others?”
“Cassian disappeared the moment you left. Kellan and Devlin are securing the area. They’ll come around tomorrow to meet the girls.”
“That’s fine.” I crack my neck. “They tried to take her, Silas.”
“I know.” My brother’s usually confident and cocky smirk is missing. He stares into the night beside me. “But Cassian stopped them.”
“Barely. I should have been there.”
“You were preparing for a wedding and running our entire operation. You can’t be everywhere.”
“I should have been by her side.”
“Rafe—“
“This is what always happens.” I clutch my glass tightly, raising it to toss hard liquor down my throat. It doesn’t quench the rage in my heart. “I let myself indulge and everyone gets hurt.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Explain that to June and Hattie.”
He has no answer to that. Instead, he sighs and sips his bourbon. “I’ll clean up back in the city. I’ll find a way to spin this the best I can.”
“There will be ugly rumors.”
“Aren’t there always when the Lords of Ashes are involved?”
“I want them under control.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He turns away. “Looks like she found you.”
I follow his gaze. Standing at the far end of the room, framed by the door and the light from the hall, is June Ashworth.
Now June Corvino.
Still wearing her white dress. Her hair falling artfully around her pretty face.
God, she’s fucking beautiful.
That’s the sickest part of all this. If I didn’t want her, that would be better. She’d be an obligation and nothing more.
But I thrill at the thought of making her my bride.
My blood boils knowing she doesn’t want it, and that makes me need her even more.
“Thank Theodora for me. And tell her she’s welcome to stay the night.”
“Think she’ll happily stay in my bed?”
“Don’t make this night even more painful, Silas.”
“A man’s got to try.” He squeezes my shoulder. “Stop looking like you’re standing at a funeral, brother. It’s your wedding night.”
He walks off, pausing only to say something softly to June. She smiles sheepishly at him before he departs, leaving the two of us alone.
My wife drifts into the room. I can’t take my eyes off her. It’s like an angel floating through an enchanted forest. The way she glides, her hips, the plunge of her neckline, the plumpness of her lips. Her eyes are pink from crying, but that’s to be expected.
“Tell me what’s happening right now or I’m out of here.” She stands there so defiant and gorgeous.
But she has no fucking idea the mess she’s in.
“First, I want to make something clear.” I shift to face her. “We are hundreds of miles from civilization. If you escape, you will be lost and alone in the pine barrens with no easy access to water and no food for possibly days or weeks at a time. Not to mention our daughter will slow you down. I will find you and I will bring you back. Do not make this difficult.”
Her lips twist and her hands ball to fists. “Stop saying our daughter. She isn’t yours.”
I choose to ignore that. We have plenty of time to bicker over semantics. “Come here.” I hold out my hand, gesturing for her to join me at the windows. “We have our future to discuss.”
She doesn’t move immediately. Which is fine. She’ll learn to jump in time. I sip my drink, savoring its smoke and flavor, until she finally comes and takes a position a few feet to my left, out of reach.
“You can’t hold me against my will, and there’s no way that wedding was legal.”
“I can and it was. You already signed the documents.”
“I didn’t sign anything!”
I glance at her. “You think you really needed to?”
“This is crazy. How is this happening?!”
I turn to her, one palm against the glass. Last time we were together like this, I had her tits against a window; my cock sank between her legs. I don’t think that will happen tonight, but my god, I would bleed to taste her again.