Cruel Conquest: A Dark Romance by Tessa Morgan

Author:Tessa Morgan [Morgan, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stormy Night Publications
Published: 2022-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Hannah

Present time

There’s so much power in Leo’s grip. Those strong fingers, that big hand, it should terrify me. But again, all I feel is anger.

This man stole my mother from me. Yeah, our relationship wasn’t the greatest, but I loved her deeply. It hurts me that she kept secrets from me, but I know she did it to protect me. I only really understood the extent of my family’s financial issues about a year after her death.

It’s depressing that it only took my father twelve months to run the Monroes into the ground. The gambling helped, of course. He kept betting bigger and bigger sums, hoping for a windfall to save us. And every time he lost, his drinking would get worse.

First to go was Mom’s jewelry and furs. Then the cars. The day he sold our home—the place where I’d been born and raised—that was the last straw.

My plans became a pipe dream. My life, a miserable existence. I latched onto solving my mother’s murder, somehow thinking it would change things around for me. For the Monroes… who by this time were so far from fine, it was laughable to think I ever owned a Maserati.

Now, staring up into Leo’s eyes, I realize I have a decision to make. Do I abandon my plan, hand over what scant evidence I have to the police, and hope they reopen Mom’s case? Or do I suck it up and forge ahead?

The answer should be so simple. I should never even have set foot in this house to begin with. But Leo Grayson is an enigma. Even before my mother’s death, puzzles always fascinated me.

I’m driven by an insane urge to see this through. To reach the end of this rabbit hole and find out if I’ve arrived in some mirror world… or if I’ve been dreaming this whole time and I wake up to the same sad reality I fell asleep in.

Leo says he was running from people like me? Well, if he doesn’t know it already, people like me don’t give up easily.

“Maybe it’s time you stopped running and faced the truth.”

I watch as my words sink in. As Leo’s anger fades, as his expression softens. “You’re right,” he rumbles in a husky voice. “It’s been so long. And I’m so tired.” He uses the grip on my throat to keep me in place as he drops his head, his forehead resting against mine. “Why do I keep punishing myself for something I didn’t do?” The last is a rough whisper, words not meant for my ears, but perhaps whatever greater power Leo believes in—if any.

My chest tightens painfully. His words are so sincere, I desperately want to believe they’re true. But obviously, he’s a master manipulator. How else could he have fooled everyone in this town? How else would he have been found innocent of his wife’s apparent suicide?

Angelo told me all about it. How Leo took several hours to report it. Obviously he was cleaning up any evidence he might have left behind.

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