Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Cold floor beneath his back. The taste of ash in his mouth. Rope cutting into his wrists.
Sylvain kept his breathing steady, his eyes closed as he assessed his situation. The air smelled of pine and damp earth. Silence...except for wood crackling in a fireplace nearby.
He risked opening his eyes a fraction. A log cabin, rustic but well-maintained, and through the window, a glimpse of dense forest...and stone gargoyles.
Marchettis.
Where the gargoyles were, New England's most powerful famille followed, and so that meant...
Boston.
It was the Marchettis' stronghold, which was also an eight-hour flight from Paris. A lot could happen in eight hours. Not just to him. But...
Focus, Sauvage.
The sooner he was out of here, the sooner he would get to...her.
Une chose à la fois. One thing at a time.
A quick assessment of his bonds revealed amateur work, and he was able to free himself in moments. He got to his feet, intending to search for weapons—
NO.
The sound of explosion, ripping through the quiet forest, followed by birds screeching in panicked flight.
Liana.
He ran. Faster than his body would be able to sustain. Pushing his lungs beyond its capacity. All he could think about was her.
No, no, no.
The warehouse, or what remained of it, appeared through the trees. Half the structure had collapsed, the other half still submerged in infernal heat. And on the ground, shattered pieces of what were once stone gargoyles, fire turning their marred features into twisted smiles of agony.
"Liana!"
Heat singed his skin as he searched through the wreckage. But he felt nothing. Didn't care about anything except her.
S'il te plaît, mon Dieu.
He could not remember praying like this, not even that day he himself had been captured. But right now, he was willing to do anything. Everything. Even if it meant trusting what could not be seen—
S'il te plaît...
And that was when he heard it. A soft coughing sound from beneath a partially collapsed desk, and Sylvain worked like a madman, splinters piercing his flesh as he charged through flame-licked debris that took him closer and closer to Hell.
Not today, Satan.
Because he had finally found her, curled up and covered in dust and soot.
But alive.
Her eyes fluttered open as he crashed on his knees in relief.
"S-Sylvain?"
"Oui." His voice was hoarse, his hands shaking as he cupped her face. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, and he gathered her in his arms, cradling her against his chest.
"I thought I'd die."
"I won't let you."
A shaken laugh, but even with her still pale and shaking, her dazed blue eyes revealed the truth.
What he said, she believed, and in that moment, he also saw the truth in his own heart.
Je l'aime. I love her.
It no longer mattered whether she would prove loyal or not. Suitable or unsuitable.
He loved her. Unconditionally. And he always would.
BY THE TIME SHE REGAINED consciousness, they were in a cave, and he had a fire burning.
"S-Sylvain..."
He watched her slowly sit up. He had already checked her for injuries, had only found small cuts and grazes. Bruises that would later darken into being. Nothing serious, and that was good...since what he was about to tell her would cause her a different kind of pain.
"I'm sorry, Liana." It took everything in him to keep his distance. "All of this is my fault."
"I don't understand."
"Today was supposed to be a test."
"For what?"
"For you."
"I see."
His chest tightened. Because her eyes showed that she wasn't lying. She did see the truth, and that was how he was unable to trust her without proof.
"Everything that happened, however..." Sylvain forced himself to continue because she deserved no less. "The person I asked to conduct the tests was a friend of mine. But someone else interfered."
"Your enemy?"
"Non."
"Then...my brother's."
Sylvain froze. She knew about Biancardi?
A smile wobbled to his wife's lips. "The tests you mentioned..." Her voice was steady, but he could hear the effort it took. "They gave me one, too. Asked me to draw a map and sketch the layout of your place. Or they'd kill me."
The devil was up to its old tricks again, Sylvain found himself thinking.
But this time, he would not let it win.
"It doesn't matter—"
"I think it does."
"Pourquoi?" Why?
"Because they gave me an incentive to betray you."
Ah.
"That's how you found out about your brother."
"Oui."
His mind played back her words.
They...asked me...or they'd kill me.
And since only an idiot would think that the explosion was designed to save his wife's life—
"Pourquoi?" Why?
He hated how he ended up repeating himself, but shock had him incapable of saying anything more complex.
Why did she not betray him...like Annie had?
"Do you...do you rreally not know?" His wife...was actually teasing him even as she started to cry. "Or a-are you just playing dumb?"
How could this be true?
"You s-said you wanted a woman who was strong and courageous."
Mon Dieu, non.
"And t-that's why—"
Sylvain could no longer control himself, and a sob escaped her lips as he closed the distance between them, Sylvain falling on his back as he pulled his wife into his arms.