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)
Marnie improves. Slowly but surely, the nurses help her heal. She still can’t get around very well, but Rafe makes sure she has whatever she needs.
“I’m surprised, you know.” Marnie sits out in the sun on a back balcony one morning about a week after she moved in. The construction on the mansion is finished, all the visible signs of the attack are now gone, except there are still dozens of armed guards wandering the grounds. I watch one as he makes his way along his planned route, pausing to check his phone, which I know is technically against the rules.
“About what?”
“Your husband.”
I lift my coffee to my lips and blow on it. I try not to show the complicated nest of emotions that flutters through my chest every time she refers to Rafe as your husband. “He’s a man of mystery.”
“Did you know that he shows up at my room every morning to see how I’m feeling?”
That gets my attention. “Really?”
“Eight every morning, there’s a knock at my door. It’s too early, but he’s sweet about it. He stands there all serious and gruff and is like, how is the staff treating you? Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable? No, you’re good? Wonderful, farewell. I swear, it’s adorable, like he’s trying to learn how to be human.”
I laugh despite myself. “That pretty much describes him perfectly.”
“At first, I found him hard to handle. But I don’t know. These last few days…” She trails off, gazing over the wall out toward the pine barrens.
“Are you falling for my man, Marnie? Because I’ll throw you over this bannister if you are.”
She snorts. “Please. With my track record? I’m done with men.”
“Ah, come on. You’re young and vibrant. You have a lot left to give.”
She gestures at herself. “When you meet a handsome, decent man interested in a crippled divorcee, you give me a shout.”
“Marnie—“
“No, don’t start, I’m not trying to be all self-pitying. Stop sidetracking me. I want to say, Rafe seems like he really cares about you and it’s winning me over.”
I open my mouth to tell her me too but stop myself, because I’m not sure that’s true.
How could it be, realistically? He forced me into this marriage. He kidnapped me and dragged me here. And yes, he did it to protect me—I believe that now, I’ve seen the aftermath first hand—but he still did it.
Rafe’s difficult. He’s controlling and closed-off. I have to dig hard to get underneath the surface, and even then, sometimes it’s like all I find is more granite beneath that cold upper layer.
So why would I feel anything for him at all?
“He’s good with Hattie,” I say, brushing my hair back from my face. A cool breeze flutters nearby trees. “It’s like they speak the same language. I don’t know, it’s weird.”
“Almost as if they’re father and daughter?”
“He wasn’t part of her life for years.”
“True, but he had his reasons, right?”
I give her a sharp look. “Did he put you up to this?”
“Absolutely not.” She holds up her hands defensively. “I swear. I’ve just been stuck in this place and I’ve had a lot of time to think, and if you look past all the mafia stuff—“
“Which isn’t easy,” I grumble.
“—I think what you find is a man who is torn by his loyalties, but who really does care about you and Hattie.”
I know she’s right. That’s been obvious to me for some time. Rafe went through something terrible when he was young and it scarred him. Literally, the burn scars, but also deep in his heart. He grew up raising his younger siblings in a nightmarish, violent world, forced to become the head of his family’s crime syndicate while mourning the loss of his sister and his parents.
That deeply affected him. It changed him in ways I’ll never know, but I get the sense that Rafe was more of a playboy and much less serious than he is now.
The fire forced him to grow. But it also left him bruised.
So does that excuse kidnapping me? Forcing me to be his wife?
Maybe crime is just his love language.
I change the subject because talking about Rafe makes me too uncomfortable. Marnie drops it but I can tell this isn’t the last I’ll hear of her feelings on the matter. That’s one of her best traits: she’s ruthlessly honest and she never lets things pass if she thinks they’re important.
After I get Marnie back to her room for her first check-in with Birdie, I head down to find Hattie. She’s with the new nanny, who also happens to be a childhood psychologist specializing in art therapy. I can only imagine how much money Rafe is paying her to watch over Hattie exclusively, but that says a lot about how much he cares for our daughter.