Elizabeth SaFleur [SaFleur - Invincible (Elite Doms of Washington Book 6)

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright 2019 by Elizabeth SaFleur. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Elizabeth SaFleur LLC

PO Box 6395

Charlottesville, VA 22906

Elizabeth@ElizabethSaFleur.com

www.ElizabethSaFleur.com

Edited by Patricia A. Knight

Cover design by Shanoff Designs

ISBN: 978-1-949076-10-3

June 8, 1981

Alice Wynter took two steps forward and spat, No. Her eyes, a cold, muddy brown, blazed with fiery hatred directed entirely at him. The two guards whod thrown him off the Wynter estate flanked either side of her, their faces as still and cold as the marble statues that stood in the gardens behind the closed iron gate.

Alexander curled his fists around the bars. I just want to see him. One last time. Then, Ill go. He wasnt a man who begged, but for a chance to talk to Charles one last time hed get on his knees and crawl over broken glass. Charles had hours, perhaps minutes, left to live.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. And allow you to corrupt my son further? Never.

He should have known she would not reconsider. The woman lacked any semblance of human compassion. He wondered if she felt any emotion at all. I just want to say good-bye. His forehead fell to one of the railings and his voice cracked, but at least he could say the words. His hands slipped on the rails, leaving a blood trail from palms thatd been scraped raw by the pavement when the guard threw him outside. The serrated skin burned, but he couldnt give a fuck. Please, he said again.

I forbid it.

He lifted his head to receive more visual daggers from the woman who called herself Charles mother. Mother. What woman would do this to her son? We dont have much time. Hes dying. For Gods sake, just a hundred feet behind her in his childhood bedroom, Charles lay alone. Shed left him with medical personnel who cared about paychecks and IVs not getting infected. Couldnt she see? Charles needed someone who loved him there.

She strode forward so only ten feet separated them. Her lips thinned to a sharp line, and her eyes glowed with revulsion. And why does my son have no time, Alexander Rockingham? Because of you. She raised her arm and pointed a finger at him. Youre worse than the devil. Youre an abomination, an affront to God almighty. Get out of my sight and never come back, or Ill ensure your life is a living hell.

Her hatred didnt matter to him. Hed apologize. Hell, hed agree with her. Hed say anything to get back inside to see Charles, but his throat clogged and he couldnt breathe. He had to keep trying. At least let me talk to Rebecca.

She doesnt want to see you. She told you to leave. Now do it.

For long minutes, the drone of katydids in the trees swaying in the warm early summer air was the only sound between them. He wrestled with what he could say, what he could do to just get her to unlock this gate and allow him inside. Fuck, he needed to be with Charles. Hed promised he wouldnt let him die like this.

His eyes caught movement just behind the guards. Rebecca, he called out. Please, I need to talk to you. Her eyes frantically darted back and forth between him, Alice and the guards. She shook her head violently and then grimaced, rolling her lips between her teeth as if choking back words or tears. He would never know which as she stepped backward, turned, and fled up the front steps to disappear inside. How could Rebecca have told him to leave? How could she have simply watched through the window as those guards had wrestled him down the stone steps of the entrance, manhandled him down the drive and thrown him onto the road. The gate had locked with a loud clank as hed picked himself up from the asphalt.

How could this be happening?

He leveled his gaze once more on Charles motherthough the woman didnt deserve the titleand leaned closer to the gate, his face between two rails. He couldnt allow a love that had consumed his life to end like this. He dug deep into his soul and reached for the last shred of self-preservation he could muster. One day, Alice Peyton Wynter

Hearing him speak her full name, she lifted her chin sharply. No one dared address her that way, did they? Shed left him no choice. He was not surrendering to the likes of her.

One day, he repeated. I will walk through these gates as owner of this place. He glanced up at the two Ws engraved in oval plates at the gate top. And, Ill do it with a sledgehammer in my hands to erase anything or anyone bearing the name of Wynter.

Over my dead body. Alice made a show of folding her arms over her chest. The guards widened their legs as if readying themselves for an altercation. If he tries to step one foot on this estate, shoot him, she said without even glancing their way. And aim for the heart.

Yes, maam. One of the guards pulled a Glock out of the back of his pants and let it dangle along his leg.

They didnt need to shoot him. He was already half dead. If he couldnt get inside to comfort Charles in his last moments of life, if hed been tossed aside by Rebecca, hed lost every reason to live.

He peered up the drive, his eyes finding the window on the second floor on the far right hand corner of the mansion. Charles, he whispered. Ill be back, no matter how long it takes. I promise. His gut roiled with the truth. Charles likely had hours leftand he would not be there. Charles would slip from this earth without him, something hed promised him months ago he wouldnt let happen.

He gazed at Alice Wynter, whod turned and headed back to the house. The two guards still faced him. I promise, I will be back, he called to her back. Even if I have to walk over your grave to do it.