Shatter-Me-PDF-Shatter-Me-Series-Shatter-Me-Shatter-Me-1-Tahereh-Mafi (1)

Warner is already 3 steps ahead but I can see the smile on
his face. “Everything I do is done on purpose.”
“You wanted to make a spectacle out of me.” My heart is
racing in my wrist, pulsing in my fingers.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From your own soldiers?” I’m running to catch up to him
now, burning with indignation. “At the expense of a man’s
life—”
“Get inside.” Warner has reached the elevator. He’s
holding the doors open for me.
I follow him in.
He presses the right buttons.
The doors close.
I turn to speak.
He corners me.
I’m backed into the far edge of this glass receptacle and
I’m suddenly nervous. His hands are holding my arms and
his lips are dangerously close to my face. His gaze is locked
into mine, his eyes flashing; dangerous. He says one word:
“Yes.”
It takes me a moment to find my voice. “Yes, what?”
“Yes, from my own soldiers. Yes, at the expense of one
man’s life.” He tenses his jaw. Speaks through his teeth.
“There is very little you understand about my world,
Juliette.”
“I’m trying to understand—”
“No you’re not,” he snaps. His eyelashes are like individual
threads of spun gold lit on fire. I almost want to touch them.
“You don’t understand that power and control can slip from
your grasp at any moment and even when you think you’re
most prepared. These two things are not easy to earn. They
are even harder to retain.” I try to speak and he cuts me off.
“You think I don’t know how many of my own soldiers hate
me? You think I don’t know that they’d like to see me fall?
You think there aren’t others who would love to have the
position I work so hard to have—”