Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 123575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
“Don’t act like you know me, Lilian, because you don’t. You know what I want you to know, and that’s it.”
“You’re right. I don’t know you, but I do know they hurt you.” Her other hand comes out of nowhere, and her gentle fingers skim across my cheek. I can’t tell if she’s stupid or fearless, especially since I’ve still got a tight grip on her throat. “I know they used you for their own benefit, that they wanted you to become a weapon.”
“Become?” I tilt my head at her. “What makes you think I’m not a weapon for them to use already?”
“Maybe you are. I don’t know. What I can tell you is that you aren't the monster you pretend to be.”
There’s a fracture in my chest—not the satisfying shatter of violence, but the slow, agonizing split where truth slips through my armor.
“I’ll kill you,” I whisper, but my grip is already wavering. “If they even suspect you matter to me, they’ll use you—and I won’t let that happen. I’ll have to…” My voice breaks, the vulnerability ripped from me. Lilian matters. Fuck, she matters more than she should—more than I ever should’ve allowed, and now there’s no way out.
It’s too fucking late.
I can’t let her go. I won’t.
“Kill me to protect me?” That ghost of a smile plays across her lips. “Pretty sure that defeats the purpose.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I growl, voice low, almost broken. “But if it’s you or them—if it’s you or them using you—” I can’t make myself finish that sentence. The thought makes me irrational.
We stay frozen at that moment—my hand on her throat, her hands on my face, violence and tenderness tangled together until I can’t tell which is which anymore.
Slowly, I shove the animal back into its cage. All that time in captivity taught me how to compartmentalize—how to tuck rage into tidy boxes and lock them tight. What it didn’t teach me was how to do it with someone’s pulse still trembling beneath my palm.
I stare down at her beautiful face, my hand hovering at her throat like it doesn’t know what to do anymore. “If they think you’re compromising their investment, you’ll vanish. There will be no body. No evidence. It will be washed away as another tragic accident.” I exhale through clenched teeth. “I’ll be the one left cleaning up the mess—again. Knowing I let it happen. That I let you get that close.”
“I’m not afraid of dying.” Her fingers trace the scar along my jaw—an old reminder from the first time they tried to break me.
Sever the connection, end it now. I can’t do it. Her touch feels like everything I’ve ever wanted and nothing I deserve.
“You should be. These men...they won’t just kill you. They’ll dismantle you. Tear apart who you are piece by piece until you’re begging for an end that will never come.” I pause, jaw tight, eyes locked on hers. “I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. The thought of it happening to you—” I swallow hard. “Death would be mercy. But they don’t do mercy.”
Understanding dawns in her eyes. Her other hand slides from mine at her throat before moving to my chest, coming to rest over my hammering heartbeat. The gesture is so intimate it hurts. No one has ever touched me with such care, or tenderness.
“I’m not weak, Arson. I can protect myself.”
I study her face—the steel beneath her delicate features. “You aren’t weak; you’re right, and that’s what I like best about you. How delicate on the outside you appear, but how strong you are inside. Even so, you’re naive if you think you can protect yourself against these types of people.”
“I don’t want your protection. I don’t want to be another liability.”
I pull her closer, my gaze dropping to her lips.
Fuck, I want to kiss her.
But now isn’t the time for that. “What you want doesn’t matter. It stopped mattering the moment you tangled yourself in my web. Right this second, they’re watching us. Every move we make. Every time I touch you, every secret you uncover, every moment we’re together—they’re cataloging it. Building a profile, strategizing how to hurt me through you.”
“Then let them watch.” Her chin lifts defiantly. “We can’t change what they plan to do, especially when we have no idea what their plan is.”
“You don’t understand.” I press my forehead to hers, the gesture more intimate than any violence I could visit upon her. “Their appearance here, it changes everything.”
“In what way?”
I already know she’s going to fight me on this, but the decision to keep her here was made the moment they pulled up. “I can’t protect you outside these four walls. Can’t control all the variables. Can’t guarantee your safety.”
Her breath catches as she realizes what I’m saying.
“Are you asking me to stay here? Do I have a choice?”