Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 51733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Puzzle pieces started falling into place as Sarica finally got past the veil of her heartbreak, and her mind began to work like it was supposed to.
"I think I should rephrase my answer," Sarica heard herself say. "I fell in love with Giancarlo right away—-" She saw Giancarlo's jaw clench at this, but she told herself to ignore this. "But I didn't want us to marry if he was only making me his wife out of duty." She looked at Justina then, asking softly, "Does that sound familiar to you?"
Sarica was hoping to catch the other woman off guard, but the words only made Justina smile. "It does, actually. Very much so. And come to think of it, the three of us have that in common. People say 'thank you' when someone lends them a helping hand—-and leave it at that. But the three of us?" Justina shook her head with a laugh. "We always want to go the extra mile, regardless of whether we're returning the favor or paying it forward."
Sarica's heart started pounding. Was this the other woman's way of acknowledging the truth about her marriage?
"Do you know what I owe Giancarlo?" Justina asked.
Sarica slowly shook her head.
"I was abducted on my way to an event I was hired to host. I caught the eye of the wrong man, my abductor had told me. And that was why I became their target."
Even though Justina's voice was clinical as she recounted her ordeal, the pain in her words was all too easy to imagine, and because Sarica herself knew what it was to be surrounded by evil—-she also knew there was so, so much that Justina was leaving out.
"I was about to be auctioned off when Giancarlo came to rescue me. But because he was unable to find the people behind my abduction, he arranged for my disappearance instead. He gave me enough to start fresh, but all I wanted was revenge. And Giancarlo, he, too, did not stop looking. Because he knew I wouldn't be the last girl whose life they would destroy. We pursued every lead. We didn't leave anything to chance. And then one day, Giancarlo told me he was getting close to discovering the truth..."
The truth dawned on Sarica with painful clarity. "It was Viktor...wasn't it?"
"To be fair to Giancarlo's friend, subsequent evidence we've collected suggests that his involvement isn't...voluntary. Someone had something on him. And whoever it was...had also ordered Viktor to kill Giancarlo when they realized he was on their trail."
Chapter Ten
SEVEN YEARS AGO
The border crossing into Moskra was exactly what Giancarlo had promised: quick, discreet, and surprisingly mundane. No dramatic chase scenes. No gunfire. Just a quiet exchange of papers, a knowing nod from a guard whose silence had been bought with more money than Justina had ever seen, and finally, freedom.
Giancarlo had given her more than what she needed to start a brand new life anywhere in the world. And while the whole world believed her missing, Giancarlo had arranged to leave behind fabricated clues that only people like her abductors would recognize.
And those clues would suggest she had died an accidental death, in order to prevent them from going after the loved ones she had left behind in America.
Keep going, and never look back.
Because the people who had almost succeeded in selling her off were still out there somewhere, doing what they do best, and that was to steal and ruin other people's lives.
But as much as she appreciated Giancarlo's warning—-
The money he'd given her didn't go toward a new life in some distant paradise. Instead, it bought Justina training. Weapons. Information.
In a country where criminal families held more power than the government, everything was for sale—including the skills she needed to ensure she would never be a victim again.
In Moskra, she forged for herself a new identity, and the old Justina was buried permanently in the past. The girl who used to work in a salon was gone and never to be seen again. In her place was a faceless spy who now used scissors for cutting body parts other than hair. And one whose loyalty only belonged to the highest bidder.
The jobs she accepted might seem random to most. But in truth, every job she completed also gave her a new clue about the people she was after. Every day was either an opportunity to learn something new—-or apply what she learned with bloody efficiency. And at night, she found it strangely entertaining and relaxing at the same time to read about people's reactions to the documentary that had made her name - once upon a time - trend higher than all the juiciest scandals from Hollywood.
When news of Giancarlo's disappearance reached Justina years later, she had wasted no time in heading to the crash site and barely managed to beat Viktor Biancardi's men in finding him. She owed Giancarlo Marchetti everything, and if she had to die protecting him so be it.