Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
“Harper?” Izzy questions, urgency in her tone. “What’s going on? You’re starting to freak me out. What happened to Laith?”
My chest heaves as the sound comes again, followed by a distinct creak of the floorboards in the hallway. Fuck.
“Knight?” I call out, knowing he wouldn’t try to sneak up on me, not now. Not ever. “Is that you?”
I get no response, and just as I convince myself that I’m hearing things, heavy footsteps make themselves known in the hallway, one after another, coming closer toward Knight’s bedroom.
Fear grips me in a chokehold, and I scramble off the bed, my phone clutched tightly in my shaking hand. This can’t be happening. Not again. I was supposed to be safe here.
“What the fuck is going on?” Izzy demands.
“I . . . I think there’s somebody in the house.”
“What?”
My eyes remain glued on the open bedroom door, my pulse pounding so heavily in my ears that I can’t hear a word Izzy is saying, and yet every step down the hallway feels like a vibration right through my soul.
I start backing up, my gut telling me what I already know to be true. He’s come for me, and this time, he’s taking no prisoners.
As if on cue, the masked stalker appears in Knight’s bedroom door, a single black rose dangling from his fingers, and as I stare back at him, my hand falls away from my ear, my thumb skimming over the red button, ending the call with Iz.
The phone falls right out of my hand, dropping to the ground as a wave of overwhelming emotions plague me. Fear. Hurt. Heartbreak. But most of all, rage.
This man, whoever the fuck he is, is responsible for taking Laith’s life, and I’m not about to sit back and let him have whatever he wants now. The game is over, and I don’t care what I have to do to finish it. All I know is that he won’t get away with this. I won’t allow it.
The rage fills my veins, pulsing through me until all I see is red.
“YOU KILLED HIM!” I scream, the words tearing my throat to pieces.
The stalker lifts the rose, dragging it across the front of the fucked-up mask as if smelling it, and as he keeps that heinous stare on me, his head cocks to the side like a fucking psychopath. “You broke my rules.”
“I’M NOT PLAYING YOUR FUCKING GAME ANYMORE. YOU KILLED LAITH. HE DIDN’T DESERVE THAT.”
The asshole takes a calculated step forward, putting him that much closer to me and blocking any path I might have had of getting out of here. “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What did I tell you about screaming, little kitten? I much prefer when you’re purring for me like the good little whore that you are.”
Fucking asshole.
“You’ll never touch me again,” I spit through a clenched jaw. “You won’t get away with this.”
A condescending laugh rumbles through the bedroom. “Oh, sweet, naive kitten. I already have.”
He takes another deliberate step, and my heart kicks into gear, racing faster than ever before. When he cornered me in my bedroom, I was all too eager to play the game in order to survive, but now that I’ve somehow broken his ridiculous rules, I have no idea what he’s got in store for me. Is this where it ends? Have we reached the finish line of this deadly game?
“Stop. Don’t come any closer.”
His stare seems to laugh at me, and I realize just how outmatched I am. This man is a beast. He’s just as tall as Knight, and just as broad, with obvious muscle hidden beneath his black clothes. I don’t stand a chance, but I have to try. I have to get away and survive somehow. I can’t let this be the end.
I inch toward the back of the bedroom, hoping to entice him out of the doorway, and when he shifts with my movements, I realize that I might just have a chance. At some point, he’s going to want to get closer, and when that happens, I need to make my move. I need to be ready.
“Don’t even think about it, kitten. You know what happens when you break my rules. Don’t make me take somebody else from you,” he murmurs. “Who shall I take next? Your little boyfriend? Or perhaps the fashion designer. Izabelle, is it?”
Fuck.
“Hmmmmm, kitten. You’re running out of crutches, and soon enough all you’ll have in this world is me.” I shake my head, refusing to believe it. I’ll die before he even thinks about taking somebody else from me. “One by one. They will all fall like toy soldiers.”
“If you touch any of them . . .”
He laughs, and as he takes a step toward me, I make my move, sprinting toward the door, and running for my life. My feet pound against the ground, my heart racing faster than ever before as the desperation eats me alive.