Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Shock punches me when he drops to his knees and takes my chilled hands in both of his. My fingers are trembling, but not from fear.
“I told you I can’t live without you. I mean it in the truest sense of the words. You’ve made me feel for the first time in my life. I wasn’t living before I met you. My life has no meaning without you in it.”
My lips are parted on panting breaths, as though I’ve been sprinting for miles rather than standing frozen in the beautiful studio that he made for me.
“I know I’ve hurt you. I can see that now. I will spend every day of the rest of my life making it up to you. Name anything you want, and I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you the world, Abigail. I would give you the blood from my veins. I would give you my heart, but I can’t promise you something I don’t have. You want the organ that keeps me alive? I’ll cut it out of my chest for you. Because without you, I don’t need it.”
He rubs his thumbs over my chilled knuckles. “I’m scaring you. I don’t want to, but I won’t lie to you. I’m obsessive and cruel and every bit as selfish as I’ve ever said. I won’t ask you to forgive me. I can at least spare you that selfish request.” He lifts my hands and kisses my palms with reverence. “I’ll be better for you, Abigail. I will never be worthy of you, but I’ll be better. I swear.”
His pain pierces my heart like a knife, twisting and shredding. Even after everything he’s done to me, bearing witness to his anguish is my own form of agony.
I want him to be the man I fell in love with so badly.
And this version of Dane who’s on his knees before me looks so much like him.
I know deep in my bones that this isn’t a trick. It’s not another manipulation.
He said he would die without me, and I believe him.
I don’t know how to process it.
I hate him for what he’s done to me, but how can I still feel yearning for the man who assaulted me?
The depth of his obsession is terrifying. His confession should only make me more wary of him, but my tattered heart tugs toward his in an echo of the love I used to feel.
“I don’t know what to say,” I finally admit on a shaky whisper.
He grasps my hands closer to his chest. “You don’t have to say anything. You don’t owe me anything. I’m the one who should speak now. And I want to say I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry I hurt you like this. Never again. I swear.”
I’m stunned at his apology. It seems impossible, surreal, that Dane is on his knees telling me he’s sorry. I didn’t think he was capable of remorse.
But he’s still not promising to let me go if that’s what I ask of him. He said he won’t live without me. That means I have no hope of escape.
My heart breaks all over again.
I’m still trapped with the madman who wears my love’s face. And his devotion to me is more fanatical than I ever could’ve imagined.
He’ll keep me in this gilded cage forever, and I fear that one day, I may no longer want to fly away.
He reaches up and brushes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.
“I don’t want to make you cry.”
Now I’m the one sinking to my knees. They’re too shaky to support me. My chest convulses on a harsh sob.
I want him, and I hate myself for it. No one has ever cared about me the way Dane does. It’s tempting and terrifying in equal measure.
His arms close around me, strong enough to support me but gentle with my healing body. True to his word, he’s not causing me an ounce of physical pain.
My tormented soul is another matter entirely.
“I’ve got you,” he promises.
“I know.” I choke on another sob. “I know.”
16
DANE
Blood. So much blood. It’s splattered across my face in droplets that are beginning to cool. It’s wet and sticky on my hands where I’m grasping my sister’s dress. I’m shaking her, screaming at her.
Katie isn’t breathing. She doesn’t answer when I say her name over and over again.
How can she answer when half her face is missing?
A car horn blares incessantly, deafening me. I shake my head sharply, as though I can toss the maddening sound from my ears.
I can’t escape from it. My seatbelt is stuck.
If it weren’t, I would’ve tumbled into my sister.
The Jeep is on its side. We rolled off the country lane and down a steep hill when my father took a particularly fast corner.
I don’t know how long we’ve been here, but it’s dark outside, and my voice is raw from screaming.