He crouches in front of me and lets his fingers graze the skin at my ankles that is all red and angry from the rope tightened around it. I shiver at his touch, whimpering at the memory of the terrible things it has done to me in the past. He sighs. The psychopath fucking sighs like he empathizes wi
LESLIE'S POVHeartbreak doesn’t begin to describe this feeling inside of me. No, it is not enough to quantify the depths of the pain I am going through. It hurts, badly. Not the false sense of security I was lulled into; not the lies told to my face and the secrets kept from me. It is how weak my
LESLIE’S POVOf all the things that already don’t make sense, this very one tops the charts and breaks the scale–this one where I am being told I am siblings with a man I have never seen in my life. A man that looks nothing like the one lying unconscious on that bed, save for the color of his eyes.
“Excuse me?” My eyes snap to his.He shrugs, “Did he really look around the entire country and beyond for you?” “He did and then he found me and–” “Correction, you found,” he points to me and then to my unconscious father, “Him.” This man is getting in my head and I can’t even stop him. “What d
BEVERLY'S POV(TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT)I must have blacked out again. Because when I wake up this time, it’s in the trunk of a car so small my entire body is curled into a ball to fit into it. The acute pain on one side of my head signifies that my abductors didn’t consider druggi
“Stupid bitch.” He grunts. He doesn’t stop. Roman hits me over and over again, until my lips burst and my mouth bleeds. “You’re not going to beg for your life? You are not going to fall to your knees and ask me to spare your life?” He asks after dealing me another blow to the face. “Just…kill…me.
LESLIE'S POVIn just a matter of hours, my entire life was turned upside down. Life as I knew it suddenly changed and a man I had never met until yesterday is at the center of it all–with a signed document that I still can’t bring my brain to comprehend its existence. It was just yesterday but it f
LESLIE’S POVI haven’t even fully processed the realization when the mansion door opens and maids troop out with more of my belongings. They freeze the moment they see me and immediately avert their gazes but not before I see the guilt on their faces. It was clear even before I saw them that they we
AUTHOR’S NOTE. Phew!😮💨🥹 Where to begin, where to begin. It has been one hell of a journey with this book. Started a little over six months ago and it still shocks me that I actually came this far with it. Of all the books I have written, this is the only one whose ending didn’t feel underwh
EPILOGUE NO.2LESLIE’S POV(Six years later)Avery is missing. Again.And so is my credit card for which I just got a notification of a debited payment; Fifty dollars to be exact. Little rascal must have snatched it from my purse while I wasn’t looking. The nanny that called me about her disappeara
EPILOGUE NO.1LESLIE’S POV(A few months later)“YOU SLEPT WITH WHO?!!!” I’m as big as a whale but I still manage to shoot up to my feet with a speed that can only be likened to that of lightning. My drawing board clatters to the ground in the process. I'm heavily pregnant but I still design to whi
“Of course, it’s just a joke.” I say, and even laugh a little to lighten up the mood and salvage the situation.“A joke?”I swear, she pales even further. She looks…hurt? Ughh, fuck this, I’m done. I sit up straighter, damning my fears to hell. “That wasn’t a joke. Far from it. I don’t want it to b
KIAN’S POVI’m nervous as hell.It’s fifteen minutes past the agreed time for the crew to come around for my ‘grand’ proposal but the delay is not in any way their fault. It’s mine. Each time their heads pop out the door of the small room behind Leslie to ask if it’s time, I subtly shake my head. I
KIAN’S POV “How long are you going to hold on to that?” Cole’s voice startles me. The ring box I was playing with in my hands almost slips out of my hold but I catch it before it can fall to the ground. I glare in Cole’s way as I tuck the box safely back into the last drawer beside my office desk.
LESLIE’S POV (Another week later) I’m starting to think the news weatherman is a fraud. Three years ago and now, his forecast about a perfect sunny day is entirely wrong. The sky harbours thick clouds that hide the sun no matter how desperate she wants to take a peek. It’s no different from tha
LESLIE’S POV (One week later) > ***************************************************** Read and delete. It’s the third time this week and I’m starting to get sick of seeing the words “corpse”, “body” and “Funeral”. I’ve been subconsciously blaming the innocent little thing growing ins
LESLIE’S POV I join Kian’s mother outside the room, closing the door behind me. She is still stewing in anger, face red with rage that’s waiting to be unleashed. Usually, I would do anything to pacify her so I wouldn't be at the receiving end of that unbridled rage. Now? Irritation is all I feel at