Chapter 18
C
I would’ve died for Gunner Carnegie–the man I gave eight years of my life to. But for my half–sister, he’d kill me in just a second.”
To Brandi, his name was a nightmare, not a fantasy. But to win her over, Gunner humbled himself to invest in my company and work there as Secretary Gunner Sutter.
He stayed by my side–but only to stay close enough to calm her fears… and make her fall for him.
“Sloane,” he warned me, “touch her once, and I’ll make sure you suffer ten times as much.”
And he meant it.
I slapped Brandi once. He hit me back hard right in front of all our employees.§
I gave her script to someone else. He made my life hell.
I called her a bitch. He carved the word into my skin himself.
Brandi never had to lift a finger–everything I fought for, he handed to her on a silver platter.”
Me? No matter how much I suffered, all I ever got was “You deserve that.“}
So when Dwight Astor came to propose, I quickly said yes.§
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There was a loud crack, and the next thing I knew, the floor rushed up to meet me.
My ears were ringing so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else but my assistant, shouting, “Miss Sloane! Your face!”
I felt her hand grab me to help me sit up.
I couldn’t see it, but I felt the heat, the swelling, and the sting where something sharp had cut through my skin.>
But nothing hurt more than the way my favorite punishment looked at me.”
So cold.2
I loved Gunner for eight years.
But the only woman he ever truly cared about from the start was that two–faced little sister of mine.}
I’ve asked myself a thousand times. ‘What does she have that I don’t? What made him kneel for her, bleed for her?‘
The day I found out, I swear… I actually wanted to kill her.
Five years ago, Gunner came to me. Premier Collective was falling apart then.
He offered to save it—but only if I agreed to his conditions.§
“Stop being hard on Brandi, and give her back everything that belongs to her.”
I looked at him, and my heart ached.
The real power behind the Carnegies‘ empire wasn’t that polished heir they paraded around.
It was Gunner–the third son, the one who ruled from the dark.
For my sister, he lowered himself. He stayed close to me, pretending to care, just to help her forget her fear of him.
Because everyone knew Gunner was a terrifying figure. Just the mention of his name would make people tremble. After all, his hands were stained with blood.
Once, he sent a marriage proposal to Brandi.
But the moment she heard that it was the third son’s proposal, my sister got so scared that she spiked a fever that night.”
When Gunner found out, he felt guilty.”
But he couldn’t just let her go.
He hid himself, working as my secretary, waiting for the day she’d fall for him.
“If that day came,” he promised, “I’d finally tell her who I really am.”
What he never saw was status, money, reputation, applause–that’s the kind of love my sister would kill for.
Me? Sull, stupidly, blindly–I loved him.
Emotion overruled reason, and I agreed to his terms.
In recent years, I used all my connections, called in every favor, and built my sister up into one of the four biggest actresses in the industry.
Not long ago, she broke into my room and started rifling through my stuff.
I lost control. I slapped her
She deserved it, but in front of everyone, Gunner hit me right back.
It was brutal–the kind of slap that made everyone around us flinch like they were the ones who got hit.
That’s the man I gave my heart to for free for years &
He didn’t ask why I did what I did. He didn’t care what Brandi had done. He just slapped me straight away.
“Gunner,” I whispered “Do you even have a heart?“)
“do” he said. “And I gave it to Brandi.”
11:17 AM MM
‘Hah. He might as well just stab mine then.‘}
I was trembling so hard that I could barely stand.
“I told you,” he said. “If you hurt her, you’ll never get away with it.“}]
