*Weekly updates*
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When Ella Zanova is forced to marry the cruel mobster Grayson Hall, she does the unthinkable to escape. Her life is in danger now, but things change when she meets the not-less dangerous Axton Dark.
In the middle of a mafia war...
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There were not many places I could go, so I went, as always, to the lake. I sat on the ground and leaned against the tree. The grass under my fingers felt good, the clear air, the quiet—everything portrayed an escape to the dreamy feeling of freedom. It helped me to dust off the last events. I liked how this place contrasted with the rest of the property; it was not the first time I spent hours there.
Amara did exactly like me—she stood without moving all the time. With a slightly opened mouth, she took a sun bath. I still couldn't believe that watching her so close to me made me feel relaxed instead of freaking me out.
I closed my eyes to enjoy the peace—that was all I had—until a roar broke through it. Okay, it was not a roar, it was Axton's voice, so unwelcomed at that point.
"I see you are on a decent distance from the shore."
I didn't want to answer that.
But instead of taking my silence as a hint that I was not in the mood for a conversation, Axton sat next to me. Why?
"I didn't mean to scare you in the morning."
I couldn't help but look at him, narrowing my eyes. To scare me? Even if that sounded like some kind of apology—not that I expected one—it was something more than just scaring me. I was already used to his tone of voice, but it hurt in a different way. Still, maybe it was better he didn't even realize that. "You didn't scare me. Everything is fine."
Just when I dowen my gaze from his eyes, my eyes stopped on his bandaged hand. "What happened?" I asked.
Axton squeezed his fist and didn't answer, of course—not much of a surprise. But he looked at me and said, "Tell me your story, love."
My story? What was that sudden interest? "There is nothing interesting or good in my story that deserves to be told."
"Then tell me about the bad things."
I looked at the sunny rays that were reflected over the water's surface. "I was born into a happy family with lovely parents. Until the day my father died in the event of an accident at the workplace. He has loved me endlessly and has lived for me and my mom. At least that's what my mother told me about him. I was only four then—I don't have my own memories of him."
I've never told anyone about my past, and I kept to myself the nights when I cried about my father, watching the sky, praying to God to bring him back. Till the moment my mother married again, and I started only to blame him. He abandoned me. Us. He could have been more careful. He could still be alive. And everything could be different now. I blamed my dead father, and I knew it was not fair at all, just as it wasn't fair for him to perish and be taken from me. The only person that had ever cared about me. And I didn't even remember him...
Axton brought his eyes back to mine and seemed about to say something, but he did not.
So I continued my tell. "My mother met a man, she fell in love, she married him. He didn't like me much and didn't even try to hide that."
