In 27 Days Novels & Stories

"You're burning out. Completely burning out. Tyler, you can't keep doing this." "Thirty-seven more days." The number was all I had. "Just thirty-seven more days until Mandy's home. I can survive thirty-seven more days."

“Seven days.’’ He finally broke the silence. “W-what?’’ I looked up, hoping I might have misheard. “That is all you have. During those seven days I won't call or bother you, but you must bring me the desired news afterwards.’’ “You know I've been thinking…’’ I quickly said. “What is the guarantee that ending her will get you what you're looking for?’’ “If it doesn't, then we'll sort for other ways.’’ He shrugged, like the devil he was, evil and carefree. Unfortunately I wasn't that careless like he was. “Now that is exactly where my concern comes in. Meagan is also an asset to me, I can't let her waste if the results won't be fruitful.’’ “Well, we wouldn't know how fruitful it can get until

“You sure about this?” “No,” I said. “But we've been planning this for years, we have to be.” He didn’t argue. He just tapped a few buttons on the control panel. And I could already feel a shift. Somewhere, probably in a skyscraper suite, Kai Deveraux’s world was about to turn messy. I exhaled, sharp and slow. Seven days. Seven days to bring down two empires. Seven days to prove I wasn’t afraid to stand alone. Or fight dirty.

My brow rises and my heart begins to beat faster, "Days? How many days are we talking about?" "For the next twenty-one days." "Twenty-one days?" I echo and my eyes widen, "that's three weeks!" I get up from my seat and move to the kitchen to grab a bottle of whiskey and a cup from the counter. I don't drink in the morning, but it's too early for all this. "You want me to be your replacement for three weeks and your fiancé of all people is not supposed to find this out. He's not an idiot is he?"

Dead on impact. The Reaper felt bad for me—said I didn't deserve to go out like that. Gave me seven days. One last shot to say goodbye. When I came back, it was already dark. I kept thinking—I wish I had wings. Maybe they were waiting. But under the moonlight, as I got closer, I saw through the dining room window— Alex, sitting between my parents. Brian and Ruby, side by side. Red wine. Fancy food. Everyone dressed like they were starring in a holiday ad.

The night they arrived, he even posted something online to make it clear he thought I was copying him. In our seventh year, the gift was the divorce agreement. Seven years, and looking back, the distance between us had grown the entire time without me noticing. Two notifications came through on my phone. One was from Vera that read, “Sean, nine tomorrow morning. Do not forget.” The other was from Austin. “Last night of our seven-day romance. Vera says she wants to make it a night to remember.” My eyes stayed on the paintings for one last moment before I switched off the screen.

“I know.” Outside, the lake was dark. Inside, the fire was high. 347 days left. No contract. No countdown. Just a throne. Just a war. Just us.

She explains. A week. That is seven days. Adding to the days remaining before the royal hunt which begins this week Saturday it makes it almost twelve days. Twelve days minus the twenty days I have left and that is eight days remaining. Eight days is not enough. "What time is it?" Ruby stands up, looking out of the window. I follow her gaze and realize that the sun is already up. "it's noon—or almost noon I guess." "Then let's go." "Go where?

, I said. "You have to stay here for twenty-seven days as the contract stipulated. I don't want to do this but you left me with no choice", he said. "You won't have a willing companion for twenty-seven days", I said. "I know", he said. "I will fight you every step of the way. I will make you regret it soon", I told him. "I knew the second I laid my eyes on you that life is not going to be easy from now on", he said.

At the end of the 7th day, if I don’t reach home, I had no idea what will happen at home? . . #TBC