Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“Heard that.” Chase winked. “I’ll be back Bella. Ace, a word?”
“Dun, dun.” Bella sing-songed.
I flipped her off behind her dad’s back and followed him down the hall and out of the house.
“I’m telling you this in confidence.” He stared straight ahead, a normal smile spread across his face like he was talking about the weather.
I mimicked his movements and pointed to the fountain. “I’m listening.”
“You’ve had a tail for the last week, six foot two, always wears a hat and face mask, hasn’t engaged but even has access to the campus and tried to access records. If he engages, you know what to do. For right now it seems like he’s gathering intel. I’m not putting a tail on him because it’s too suspicious. Just be aware like you always are and make sure she doesn’t leave your side.”
“Why are they still following her if Louis is dead?” I asked. “That’s the question I have. Unless they plan on inserting someone else, a classmate, a professor—”
“A bodyguard,” he deadpanned. “I’m only going to say this once, but lie to us, double cross us, do as much as sneeze incorrectly, and your throat will be slit so fast you’ll look up and see a headless body from the gravel. Do we have an understanding?”
“I’m not like them, Chase. I’m a De Lange in name and blood; my honor is something else entirely. You gave Ivan a chance. Give one to me too.”
“Convenient,” he whispered. “That she got pregnant so fast, when you just got back into the country a few months ago and weren’t seen with her. Louis worked hard and fast, clearly he was the plant. It’s clear as day, right? All eyes point to Louis, but what if that’s the plan? You only see what you want to see. How do we know you haven’t been hiding in plain sight all along?”
“I bled for her.”
Chase pulled out a knife and sliced it across his hand and squeezed drops onto the ground. “Two can play that game, your blood, your life means nothing in this moment, it only means something when it counts. Prove your loyalty. Keep her safe. Prove us right, Ace, I really hate getting blood on my suits, it looks bad on the news.”
“Right.”
“Goodnight.”
He walked off leaving me pissed that he would doubt me and then pissed I never thought of the same thing. Yes, all fingers pointed to Louis.
Mine too. Which meant I never once thought anyone could possibly point them to me.
If they knew I married her to protect his child. If they knew the child wasn’t mine, would it change things?
Would her life be in danger too?
It was too much to think about.
I hopped into the car and put it in drive. Raven was sound asleep in the front seat, her hands tucked under her chin. I stared longingly at her flat stomach.
All that mattered was keeping them safe.
They could doubt me all they wanted, but my whole life was in that car. I wasn’t a plant.
I never could be.
I knew my own mind.
My actions were my own.
And what was left of my heart wasn’t bought or manipulated—it was my own.
I was glad she was sleeping by the time we pulled up into campus and to the townhome. The lights were on outside the house and the cameras were blinking. I checked behind us and made sure the safety was off my gun when I got out of the car and walked over to her side to let her out.
The sound of gravel crunching had me whipping around only to see a bird fly away. We needed to get inside. “Come on.” I lifted her out of her seat and carried her to the house. I typed in the code and let us in and paused when I looked down.
A set of muddy footprints were right in front of the door on the concrete. Fresh. He was there. Watching. Waiting.
Good.
I kissed her on the forehead. “Wake up.”
She wrapped her arms around me. “Everything okay?”
I looked out into the grassy campus. “Perfect.”
“Sorry I fell asleep.”
I shut the door behind us. “You didn’t miss much. Trust me.”
“I do.”
At least that was one person in the family who did. At least I had her. The sad part, I was caught in the middle, between duty and death, want and rejection. I didn’t belong, did I? I was a husband in name only, a father in name only, a bodyguard replacing a fallen one, and everyone suspected me.
Maybe she should too.
The thought haunted me, keeping me from sleeping. I walked into her room and watched her sleep. She’d kicked off the comforter and was hugging her pillow. With a sigh I padded over to the bed and tucked her back in.
Her eyes snapped open.
“Shit!” I stumbled away.
Slowly, she sat up. “Sorry, I must look terrifying to make the great Ace nearly stub a toe in an effort to flee by falling out the window.”