Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
My grip on the phone tightens. Come on, little fox, come out to play. The lights flicker overhead before the power shuts down. A rush of relief floods through me, the tension releasing.
“What the fuck?” Violet hisses. I power off my phone. A few seconds later, the lights flicker back on, Violet triggering the backup generator. We had them put in years ago to make sure the girls here are always safe.
“It’s me,” I tell her. “When I leave, the power will be fully back on.”
I’m sure my little fox is pissed. I turned my phone off. When she killed the power, it left her unable to see me. This place is lined with cameras in and out.
“Is there an issue I need to worry about?”
"No, it's not you she's after."
"She?" Violet's brows lift. "Is another Marino man going off the market?"
"I was never on the market," I tell her, turning my phone back on as I head out the door and toward my truck.
When I'm back inside and know no cameras can see me, I pull out my other phone and call Z. I let it ring twice to let him know Marks, as everyone else knows her, is fine. She’s still out there and watching me. Just the way I like it.
I head toward my place in the city, near the docks. When I get to the gates, I hop out of my truck, pulling out my key to undo the thick padlock. It’s a fight not to glance up toward the camera I have there, knowing she’s watching.
Always watching.
I'm watching too, little fox, and your time is about up.
Chapter Two
ELLIE
Iglare at the computer screen. I can’t help the disappointment creeping in. He was supposed to be different, but clearly all men think with their dicks. I should know better. I huff a breath when a piece of hair falls into my face. I pull my hair tie off my wrist, tying my hair up, never taking my eyes off the screen, off him. It’s been that way from the beginning.
I've developed a strange new fascination. I’m not sure what to make of him or me at the moment. I don’t obsess over men. They’re gross. Okay, that's not entirely accurate. I don’t obsess over a man because I want them, and Ronan isn’t gross. I don’t understand my fascination with him.
In my profession, if you can call it that, men dominate. I’m one of the rare girls that come out to play and can keep up. Ever since I found my first computer, I’ve been obsessed with them, learning all the ins and outs so that I could be the best at what I do. I’m not there yet, but I’ve come far enough that I’m now on people's radar.
It started off first with me taking them apart and putting them back together. From there it had grown, much to my dad's protest. He hates technology all around. I’m sure that’s why I’m partly obsessed with it. It was a no-no growing up. We lived off the grid.
Hell, once upon a time I didn’t exist. I was born in an underground bunker. Crazy, right? What’s crazier is the bunker is in the States, and there wasn’t even a war happening at the time. Well, here at least.
It wasn’t until my mom got sick that I got a taste for the rest of the world. My dad was desperate to save her when she fell ill. That meant venturing into a hospital, where we stayed for almost a year until we lost her.
While losing her had been a pain I wish no one else would ever have to experience, the time I spent with her that year in the outside world shaped the person I am today. It’s crazy how life works sometimes. My whole world had been ripped from me as a new one was emerging.
I watch as Ronan removes the chain and padlock from around the tall fence that wraps around the warehouse he lives in when he’s not staying at his family's farm. It’s not technically a farm with animals and so on, but that’s what the Marino family calls it. The property features extensive rolling hills and barns, the contents of which I likely don’t want to know. I’ve learned that the Marinos don’t take too kindly to people poking their nose into their business.
I still can’t believe I’ve gotten wrapped up with that family. I find one internet friend in a book group, and she ends up marrying into a high-ranking crime mob family. Go figure. I’m still not sure my bff’s husband, War, fully likes me. I know he doesn’t trust me, but that pretty much goes for anyone that’s around Tova.
Wait, is it still called a mob these days, or is it a Bratva or maybe a syndicate? Who knows. What I do know is they aren’t on the up and up, but who really is? Not to mention one of the brothers, Z, as they call him, but Zero to me and the rest of the community I play in, is one of the best hackers in the world.