Confess

to say that this is the best day of my life.”

I kissed her, whispering my promise against her lips.

“It’s just the beginning, pet.

You’re still so young. I honestly never thought when I married you that this would be anything more than a contract. I never planned for it to happen this way. I just wanted to take care of you.

“Because even if nobody else does, I believe you, Emmanuel.”

“For the purpose of transparency, I will give you that. Your role is what I say, when I say it. You fulfill your end of the bargain for as long as I want, and then I will set you free. If you don’t, then I will use my digital Rolodex to destroy you and your sister’s lives.”

Gypsy was tall and curvy in all the right places, flaunting a body not even an airbrush could replicate.

allowed myself to get lost in her smoky gray eyes. They were hypnotic, almost feline

broad shoulders and an angular jaw, eyes the color of hot coffee, and jet-black hair

though I’d washed his blood from my hands. Even though he was declared dead and laid to rest. It always came back to him.

grown up for twenty-three

It was my job to protect her, and even if she was nineteen, Birdie didn’t have the skills to survive this world on her own.