Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Instead, I let the panic chase me down the stone steps.
Everything burned as I sucked in lungfuls of cold-mountain air.
Above, the stars were strewn on forever, so dense they appeared knitted together, a glittering blanket that went on for an eternity that I refused to continue to live.
A life that had been chosen for me.
My heels clacked against the pavement, my movements inhibited by the ridiculous dress, one that was slit up high on one side, my legs bare underneath.
Another showpiece.
Dressed as a jewel.
I’d worn it to do a man’s bidding. A part I refused to continue to play.
Hugging my coat tightly, I ran as quickly as I could down the long driveway.
Ran with the lights of the mansion fading in the distance. Through the gate and out onto the side of the winding road shrouded by thick forest that rose up on all sides and into the cover of snow that blanketed the earth.
I ran until there was only darkness and stars and pavement underneath.
Ran until my breaths puffed in white plumes from my burning lungs, and I heard the loud roar of an engine coming up quick from behind, the spray of headlights illuminating the dense, dark night.
I simply ran.
But I knew, no matter how far I ran, I had nowhere to go.
THREE
LOGAN
The engine growled as I accelerated and rounded a sharp curve just on the other side of the gate. She couldn’t have gotten far, but I still felt like I was in a race against…something.
Dread.
Hate.
Possession.
I didn’t know.
I just knew it was straight-up chaos that whipped a tornado of need in my chest.
A toiling that writhed in that cynical pit that festered deep inside me. It seemed no matter how much I had, there was always this thirst for something that was just out of reach.
More, more, more.
I should have known it could never be sated when I’d been fighting for the wrong damned thing.
The bedlam eased a fraction when I saw a flurry of white up ahead, her thick coat glowing in the hazy dome of my headlights, silver heels glinting in the rays as she fumbled down the edge of the road.
Relief pounded through my bloodstream.
Only the sight of her spiked something else, too. A dark pleasure that rattled my bones. A sickening satisfaction that she was there.
I braked hard when I caught up, the car skidding to a stop two feet in front of her. Reaching over the console, I pushed open the passenger door.
“Are you hiding from me?” I couldn’t stop it from riding out.
“Screw you, Logan Lawson.” She could barely get it out, she was panting so hard.
“Get in.” The command gritted from my mouth.
Aster bent over, gasping, the air puffing from her mouth a misty, white vapor.
The temperature on the dash read twenty-eight, and she might have been wearing a white-fur coat, but it only came to her knees, and her feet were bare save for those silver, strappy heels.
I’d gladly lay down another bet there was a frigid draft breezing up beneath that dress.
I had the sudden urge to warm her up.
Fire-agate eyes flashed and flamed as they cut through the night. “I already told you that I’m not going anywhere with you.”
She started to move around the door like she found it fit to keep walking down the deserted road. I eased along, keeping pace with her with the door swung open and hot air blasting from the vents.
“You’re going to freeze.”
Scoffing, she hugged herself tighter. “Like you care, Logan.”
“I take good care of my possessions.”
She sent me a look meant to slay.
Yeah, I was being a prick. After what she’d done? What she’d caused?
Grief glowered like a dark storm from within.
She deserved it.
And I was the twisted fuck that found some sort of satisfaction in her anger. Like maybe I wanted her to feel even an ounce of what she’d put me through.
The loss she’d caused.
But the thought of her finding actual harm out on this deserted road? It had that chaos rounding double time.
“Get in the car, Aster,” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible when I wanted to shout that she was being a fool when she continued to stumble down the road in the freezing cold.
She ignored me.
“If you don’t get in, I’ll do it for you.”
Her head whipped my way. An arrow pierced me in the chest. I hated that she was so goddamn pretty. Hated that I could remember the times when the sight of me had brightened her face with the kind of joy that had felt so real.
Now, she glared at me like I was a monster. It wasn’t far from the truth.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
My brow arched as my car inched down the road. “Wouldn’t I?”
Energy crackled in the chilled air. An old spark I resented still had the audacity to thrive. The kind that burned and seared and left nothing but ash.