Felicity came after me. “The truth, of course.”
I sank down on the couch, my head in my hands. “It was like three nights ago that Lachlan was saying he thought we were moving too fast, and now I’m what? Going to ask him if he wants to be with me while I’m pregnant with another man’s child? That’s a huge commitment, and where does he even fit into that picture?”
Connor sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. “I had no idea what you were going through here. I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t know because I didn’t want you to know. I wanted to keep it private,” I said. I looked up at both of them, my expression serious. “And that’s how I want to keep this as well. So, don’t tell anyone. Not Ophelia. Not the guests in the hotel. Not anyone. We are the only three people who will know about this.”
Felicity raised her eyebrows. “You’re not going to tell Lachlan?”
“I’m especially not going to tell Lachlan.”
“Penny—”
“No,” I said. I stuck my finger in both of their faces. “Promise me.”
* * *
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Author’s Note
Whenever I hear people talking about books or movies or TV shows in which a sexual assault has occurred, people often say things like, “I can’t believe the author did that,” or “I don’t why they took that strong female character down a peg like that.” And maybe this is a cop-out on my part, because I did write the outline to this book, and I did plot it out, but I don’t feel like I hurt Penny. I feel like Alastair did.
To me, he’s a real person with clear motivations, and he wants nothing more than to control Penny in every way. He sees her as a possession, as an extension of himself, and he has no problem using her, hurting her, treating her like garbage. I don’t like Alastair. He’s the bad guy. Believe me, when I was revising this book, I sat down with him, and I was like, “Alastair, do you think maybe you could not assault Penny?”
But I couldn’t make it work. To take it out would be untrue to what a complete and utter asshole Alastair is.
If you found this book darker than the first and are on the fence about continuing with the series, I would understand that. But I do want to assure you that I don’t intend for the series to descend into deeper and deeper darkness. I have happiness and triumph in store for these characters, and if you love them as much as I do, then please stick around.
Thanks,
Val St. Crowe
city of dragons 02 - fire storm Page 24