Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
A shiver swept through her. She lowered her eyes to the hand on her shoulder. Pale. Manicured. Cold. Her heart stumbled and her lungs seized all the air in the sky.
A chilling whisper snaked around her neck. “We’ll be out of here soon, so I can show you just how much I’ve missed you, beautiful girl.”
40
Charlee was an impulse away from stuffing Roy’s cold black heart with lead. The pistol at her lower back would do a bang up job, but her revenge would have to wait until she could assure Nathan’s safety.
Two years of slavery. A combined seven years of running. He stole nine of her twenty-five years. And he stole Noah. The burn to retaliate pumped as naturally through her veins as her blood.
She turned in the hook of his arm, rolling her hips forward to keep the bump of the gun concealed under the drape of her shirt, and looked up.
The baseball cap, oversized leather jacket, and jeans made him difficult to recognize. Roy Oxford did not do casual, but his countenance was its usual color of death. Icy. Bloodless. She wasn’t sure he was even breathing as he stared at her. Then he opened his mouth. “How convenient that I was only a four hour flight away when your photos went viral.” He tsked. “I thought better of you than to keep company with a litter of lowbred musicians. Though I’m not surprised to find the traitor, Nathan Winslow, amongst the trash.”
Furious dread balled up in her throat. Traitor meant he’d connected Nathan Winslow to Matthew Linden, which also meant Nathan had little chance of surviving the next few minutes.
“Tell me, Charlee.” The mouthwash on his breath was as aseptic as his expression. “Has he stuck his dick in you?”
Nathan’s odds of survival dropped to zero if Roy didn’t believe her. She raised her chin and held his suffocating gaze. “No. You murdered my one and only lover.” Her body pulsed with the desire to watch his eyes empty of life.
One of the few dependable forces of good in her world stood a parking lot away with his cover blown and a bullet pointed at his gut. She was too far away to shoot the Craig threatening Nathan. And where there was one Craig, there would be more spread out around her, their guns trained from their hiding spots.
Though the bulk of the crowd had scattered into the street to chase Jay’s SUV, some milled about as if waiting for him to return.
Two police officers lingered at the entrance of the lot, directing the streams of foot and motor traffic. They glanced at Roy and turned their backs. So much for serving and protecting.
“I am your only lover.” Roy pressed his nose against her cheek and inhaled. “It’s been three years and I can still smell you on the pillow next to mine. Three years, Charlee. My life is hollow without you.”
She laughed and found her courage in the sharp intake of his breath. Found it and fortified it with the realization that this was the first time she faced him without shackles. The first time she could address him in any manner she wanted. “You’re not my lover. I’ve never loved you. You’re my abuser, my ball-and-chain, and you’ll be hollow when I’m standing over your dead body.”
He dug his fingers into her shoulder and flicked his eyes over the bystanders. Oh, he wanted to beat the shit out of her.
Weaving through the cars and people was the ever dependable Craig, Salvador. He strode toward an SUV and unlocked it. There were two other lone men prowling opposite corners of the lot with bulges under their jackets where shoulder and hip holsters would be.
Nathan was too far away to read his eyes, but the set of his shoulders and raised chin said he was ready to prove there was no worse enemy than an avenging Marine. His handgun should’ve been in the inside-the-pant clip holster on his hip unless the Craig had confiscated it. Maybe he didn’t need it. Given his military combat training, he could disarm the gun aimed at him. She knew he was waiting for her to do something. For the right moment to take his eyes off her. What could she do?
She swallowed, her throat dry. The smallest mistake would cost him his life. And any threat to Roy’s life would beckon the nearby cops.
“Mr. Winslow is just an incentive for you to leave quietly.” He wrapped a hand around her throat, pinched her airflow, and dragged her to the vehicle. “If you draw attention, he’s dead.”
If she got in that SUV, Nathan was dead. She thrashed against him and screamed with burning lungs. Nothing came out. No sound. No air. There were a few stares in her direction, but no one moved to intervene.