Dark Kingdom: A Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance (Russo Royals) by Shanna Handel

Author:Shanna Handel [Handel, Shanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

10

Cecily

It must be about five in the morning when I finally slip myself out from underneath his arm. I peek out the window—it’s still dark outside. It’s cold so I grab a quilt that’s fallen to the ground in our sleep.

Still wearing the white gown, I pull the quilt over my shoulders and slide on my ballet flats. Slipping from the room I hold my breath as if that will keep me from making noise. I debate grabbing some leftovers from the fridge, but I forgo it. Too noisy. Instead, I grab one perfect, shiny red apple from the basket, slipping it into the pocket of my gown.

I pass across the floor to the door without making a sound.

I don’t want to wake the beast.

Who will soon become the Huntsman.

Because when he wakes up and finds I’m not here, that’s exactly what he will do.

Hunt me down.

He’s already cut my heart from my chest, making it his. Making me his baby. I know I’ll succumb to him, give myself to him, but today is not that day.

I need to go to my family. I shake off the shiver that comes from the image of his piercing dark eyes, staring me down, threatening to punish me when he finds me. I’ll just have to make sure that he doesn’t.

I know he thinks it’s best to stay here, to wait for Aldo.

But I disagree. And I’m not his. Not yet, at least seeing as no vows have been made. Even when I am his, I’ll still have a mind of my own.

And so, I go.

I pull the door closed behind me, leaving it open just a crack—it’s not worth the risking the clicking sound of the metal of the doorknob going back into place. I slip down the stairs, dashing through the clearing into the dark woods. Headed back the way we came.

It’s cold and I pull the quilt tighter around my shoulders, thinking of how Lance would have made me grab my coat.

The woods are spooky, dark with random piercing noises calling out into the early morning. Birds call, toad croak. My God, I hope there’s no snakes. I tiptoe through the woods, grateful when the first warm rays of sun begin to dot the horizon.

I listen for heavy bootsteps behind me, and angry voice calling my name. I hear neither. The sun rises higher and I find the walk to be pleasant. It’s still a little cool, so I pull the blanket closer around my shoulders.

I peer around the woods, looking for familiarity. I know we headed straight away from the castle, pressing forward, never turning, so I assumed if I walked straight from the cabin into the woods, I’d be going the way I came, but I’ve been walking twenty, maybe thirty minutes now and I’ve not come across the creek.

Nervous, I nibble at the apple. It’s crisp and delicious, like the ones Esme brings me from the Romano’s orchards.

Finishing the apple, I’m not sure what to do with the core.

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