Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“You don’t talk about my wife. You don’t think about my wife. Thoughts of her never cross your sick mind. Understand?”
She claws at my forearm, her face growing red, eyes too wide. I loosen my grip then release her altogether before I fucking kill her.
One corner of her mouth curves upward, and she licks her lips in that way a predator licks his before closing its jaws around the throat of its prey.
“You mean thoughts about your wife in general or thoughts about your brother fucking your wife?”
My fists clench at my sides.
“Caius is pretty talented with his tongue. I’m sure she’s enjoying—” She cries out when I take her by her throat again and this time, thrust her against the wall.
“You are your father’s daughter. It’s no wonder he was so fucking proud of his little psychopath brat.” I give one more squeeze, hear the strangled sound she makes before dropping her onto the floor and turning to go.
“Thiago got a call before he left,” she says, tone scratchy and not quite as composed as it was moments ago.
I pause, then decide to keep walking. She’s playing with me.
“Something about a meeting at the lighthouse,” she adds.
That does make me stop and squeeze my eyes shut. Because fuck.
“Did you know that when I’d listen to you jerk off, I’d finger myself and imagine it was you fucking me?” she asks, all sweetness again.
I glance back at her. She’s up on her feet and twirling her hair like her mother was moments ago. “I heard him. He was going to meet someone at the lighthouse. And now he’s gone. Was it you he was going to meet? Did you make him disappear like you made Daddy disappear?”
“You’re lying.”
“I think you know I’m not. But there’s a more important question you should be asking me, don’t you think?”
“What’s that?”
“How do I know just how good Caius is with his tongue?” She watches me closely as she grins like the fucking predator she is. She slides one hand over the peaked nipple beneath her blouse and down her stomach to the waistband of her jeans. “I’ll tell you something else too. He’s even better with his cock.”
7
MADELENA
The next few days pass quietly. I spend a lot of the time sleeping. I don’t know if it’s because that night at the lighthouse took its toll or because of the bump on my head—or it could be the fact that Caius and his mother are around packing, and I’d just rather avoid both of them. Santos is apparently moving them out of the house and to the apartment at Augustine’s, and he and I will be living here.
I admit, I like the idea of not being near the lighthouse. Just like when he’d sent me away to college, it’s a relief to me. Moreover, I like this house. I remember it from when I was little. It had belonged to the Valerian family years ago but had fallen into disrepair when they lost their money and eventually the last of them disappeared. There was no shortage of rumors about what happened to them, either.
As far as the house, there were always stories that at least one of the disappeared members of the family had been murdered in it and still haunted the place. It’s an old, gothic style behemoth and something I’ve always found beautiful even as it fell into decay.
I expect Santos to give me my own room. I assumed I was sleeping in his until one was made up for me, but the housekeeper who came to help me unpack informed me I was to unpack my things here. I’m surprised but not unhappy about it. I feel safer with Santos close by and strangely anxious when he’s not. I know what happened between us the other night has a lot to do with that, especially his question about the cuts. It was in the way he asked. He seemed to genuinely want to understand and, in a way, telling him helped me to understand.
The spanking, too, was intimate, although I’m still not sure how I was turned on. Feeling a blush creep up along my neck at the memory, I shift my attention to the task at hand.
I’ve left the bedroom door open a crack so I am sure to hear him when he gets back. He’s paying a visit to the Avery family to get a read on what they know. The image of Thiago going over the edge still haunts me and whenever I close my eyes, I see that hand on his chest, hear the grunt of breath, the scream.
The night Caius went to the lighthouse to look for anything having to do with Thiago, he returned with the news that there was no evidence of his having been there and certainly nothing of his demise. He didn’t tell me this, but Santos relayed it to me.