Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
“I am a monster,” she says, staying off camera. “And if I don’t get what I want, you’ll be getting bits and pieces of this asshole back one body part at a time. You can reach me on this number if you’d like to arrange transfer of ownership.”
The video cuts off.
“Alright,” Gray says. “For starters, you’re going to send that to me. For seconds, I want to establish the facts again. When it comes to hunting someone, details matter.”
Rainer nods, looking pale. He is truly afraid for his son’s life. He should be. If Ellie doesn’t get what she wants, that bloody little asshole is dead. He’s dead anyway, once I find him.
“Who decided the marriage?”
Rainer shifts in his seat again. He doesn’t like this. Knows how bad it makes him look. He tried to force a girl into marriage, and now he’s lost his kid. Serves him right.
“I’ll be honest with you. Her mother decided she’d be less trouble if she was to be married. So we decided to let that happen.”
“Somewhat sounds like she was forced into the situation.”
“She wasn’t forced. She was strongly encouraged.”
“Alright, and then she took your son hostage as a result.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s why you haven’t gone to the police, because you don’t want this getting out. You just want them retrieved. Quietly, with as few witnesses as possible.”
“Exactly,” Rainer says.
“And if we get the girl back, and your son back, then perhaps you’d be willing to give up the development?”
“No.” Rainer looks bulldog ferocious. “She gets nothing.”
“Okay,” Gray says. “You know there is one way we certainly retrieve your son without further harm coming to him.”
“What’s that?”
“Giving her what she wants.”
“I didn’t call you to give her what she wants. I want you to hunt her down, and I want you to fucking kill her,” Rainer growls. “I want to erase her from this planet. That little bitch is going to regret the day she messed with me.”
I can’t believe he hasn’t noticed who I am as yet. He just got me arrested, for god’s sake. I’ve been making his life hell for weeks. But men like Rainer don’t see anyone they think is poor. I might as well be Gray’s pet.
“Alright. Well,” Gray says. “I think we can find the body.”
“What do you mean?”
“Women don’t often take prisoners, and when they do, the odds that those prisoners will be released are fairly low. It’s something to keep in mind. A wronged woman is a very dangerous creature.”
“Then kill her,” he says. “I want my son back. I will pay any amount, and do anything to ensure I get him.”
“Except meet her ransom demands.”
“Yes. Except that.”
“Is there anything else I should know?”
“So we’re killing his son, right?”
“I am,” I growl. “He touched my mate. He thought she could be taken advantage of.”
“Seems like she taught him otherwise.”
“Yes. It does, but it’s not her job. I’m supposed to be looking after her. I’m supposed to be getting the fucking forest back for her. I’ve taken care of her brothers, but I don’t feel like I’ve helped her at all. My job is to protect my mate. Right now she’s protecting herself.”
“As someone with a strong mate,” Gray says, “let me tell you, the job of protecting them isn’t always what you think. Sometimes it’s more about protecting them from themselves rather than from the world. They can fight. They can be in control. But when she’s with you, that’s when she gets a different kind of safety. Make sense?”
Gray is my little brother. I’ve tortured him most of our lives, on and off, since he came over from England and was in my orbit. It’s strange that he’s giving me mature advice when I’ve always been the one in charge. Nothing is going the way I thought it would, and I’m more than a little tired of it.
I want to get back to myself. I want to be in charge again. I want to have my mate wrapped around my cock. I want to pin her down and look her in the eye and teach her that I’m her alpha and her mate. I’m her world, and she’s mine.
“I had to hunt my girl down,” he reminds me. “It happens sometimes.”
“I got the meta data from the email and the video. There’s some background that we can digitally match.”
“You do the tech stuff,” I say. “I’ve got my own methods.”
Gray’s a stalker. I’m a hunter. Hunters hunt by knowing how their prey thinks. I suspect Ellie would have her captive somewhere forested. Probably not all that far from…
No. I smile to myself at the idea, though.
If she was really audacious, she’d have him back at the original house site somehow. If not there, somewhere similar. She’s most comfortable where she can blend into nature, and avoid people. Also, there’s the fact that an unwilling man can only be taken so far. It probably isn’t that far from a road. She might have dragged him there, but she didn’t get too deep into the wilds.