Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 45957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
“Already running facial recognition scans,” he assured Adrian. “But with it being so grainy, it might take a bit.”
Adrian grunted, then walked over to Emmaline. “You armed, girly?” When she nodded, patting her side, he bent and kissed her temple. “Do not leave this room unless Igor is with you, understand?”
“What?” Igor asked, flabbergasted and a bit irritated. He looked at me, his eyes narrowed. “I thought I was with you.”
I shrugged and reached up to pat his shoulder condescendingly. His upper lip curled in a snarl. “Adrian wants you here. You’ll be fine. Let me know when you get something.”
He huffed. “I hate babysitting duty.”
Emmaline gaped at him. “Excuse you?” she snapped. My eyebrows shot up onto my forehead. I hadn’t expected her to actually speak out like that. She was always so sweet and docile. I’d never seen her angry. She was always pleasant, literally one of the sweetest people I’d ever been around. Clearly, having her husband damn near on his deathbed had fried her nerves. “I don’t need a fucking babysitter, asshole.”
Igor held up his hands, one holding the tablet, in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. Forgive me.”
She huffed and turned away from him, reaching forward to grab James’s hand in hers. I snorted a laugh at Igor being put in his place. Adrian looked at me. “Let’s go to the house. See what we can find in the kitchen.”
I gestured toward the door and gave a bow that he rolled his eyes at. “Lead the way, kotik.”
19
Ivan
Adrian was quiet and brooding as Mark drove us to the Jackson’s estate. He just stared out the window, the muscle in his jaw ticking rhythmically. Clearly, he was lost in his thoughts, and I didn’t want to bother him. There were certain times to bother Adrian, but right then wasn’t one of them.
Suddenly, he turned to look at me, blinking in surprise for a moment when he found me already staring at him. “You have a staring problem,” he muttered. I snorted, a smirk tilting my lips.
“Only with you,” I assured him. He rolled his eyes. “Just can’t fucking help myself, kotik.” I cocked my head to the side. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
He sighed heavily, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. I imagined at that moment, it felt like it was.
“It has to be an inside job,” he said, a frown tugging at his lips. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. For someone to be able to get inside the house that late at night, they had to have a code and security access. When Jaxon shuts things down for the night, only us and security can get in and out. We lock it down like Fort fucking Knox.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Igor’s number. Adrian’s brows pulled low over his eyes when I raised my phone to my ear.
“What are you doing?” Adrian asked.
I held up a finger to him, making him scowl, but Igor was answering, and I didn’t want to waste any precious time we had. “What?” Igor asked. “I can’t hunt down who this asshole is if you’re calling me, Ivan.”
Christ, he got on my nerves.
“Show that video to Jaxon,” I ordered. “See if he can identify him. Adrian is confident this was an inside job, more than likely a member of security.”
Ivan grunted. “Only thing that makes sense. I thought we were all already thinking this?”
I sighed. “We were,” I confirmed. We’d already sort of connected those dots, but we hadn’t looked this closely. “Have Jaxon call one of us if he figures something out.”
I ended the call, then looked at Adrian. “If he’s on your security team, Jaxon should know who he is since he’s the head of security. If Jaxon can identify him, we cut out the time needed to find out who he is and can instead utilize that time to hunt this mother fucker down.”
Adrian surprised me by reaching forward and gripping my shirt. He tugged me across the bench seat, then smashed his mouth to mine. I growled low in my throat and slid my hand into his hair, curling my fingers around the strands before tugging hard. He whimpered and moaned into my mouth, his addictive mouth parting and allowing me entrance into that hot, wet heat.
We hit a sudden bump in the road, and Adrian’s teeth clamped down on my tongue. I snarled and pulled back from him, blood pooling in my mouth. Adrian winced, his eyes wide and apologetic. “I am so sorry,” he said, cringing. “Fuck, Ivan—”
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, not wanting to lash out at him when it wasn’t his fault. Turning my head, I narrowed my eyes at Mark through the rearview mirror, who was doing his damnest not to laugh, the fucking asshole.