Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“Are you wearing my ring, Keira?”
Her gaze dropped to the massive rock on her finger. Even knowing she should have taken it off, she couldn’t make herself do it. She loved it, just like he seemed to have known she would. “Yes.”
“I never gave a ring to your sister. I never touched her as I’ve already touched you.” He took a breath, but it didn’t do anything to decrease the intensity in his voice. “You have driven me to distraction from the moment we met. I would move mountains to ensure that you end up as my wife, in my bed. You would do well to remember that.”
He could be lying…
She shivered, not sure if he was threatening her or making a promise that she might look forward to, just a little. Or both. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want there to be no misunderstanding between us. I don’t want your sister—either of your sisters. I want you.”
I want you.
She leaned against the wall, her knees suddenly feeling a little out of whack. “Why are you calling, Dmitri?”
“You’re in danger.”
“What?” She shot off the wall, spinning around. The hallway was just as empty as it’d been the last time she looked. “Next time, Romanov, lead with that.”
He called so I’d leave the table and get out of the line of fire. She ran back the way she’d come. “If you—”
“I’m not responsible.”
No, but he’d known there was a threat and he’d removed her from the situation, rather than warning Carrigan and Charlie. “Damn it, Dmitri, if something happens to my sister or Charlie, I will hunt you down and cut your fucking balls off. Take that into account next time you try this bullshit.” She hung up and sprinted back toward the dining room.
Chapter Eighteen
Get down!”
At Keira’s yell, Charlie’s instincts kicked to the forefront, and her body took over before her mind could catch up. She grabbed Carrigan and hauled her to the ground. They hit with a bone-jarring thud. She expected the other woman to screech and shove her off, but Carrigan pressed herself even closer to the floor and kept her head down. She’s done this before.
Charlie lifted her head to look around, finding Keira crouching under a table near the back of the room. She was paler than usual, but her eyes were bright and her expression determined. They stared at each other, and she couldn’t help feeling a bit ridiculous. “Keira, what’s—”
The rest of her sentence died in the boom of gunshots and the cascade of glass showering the seats they’d just been sitting in. Something hit the top of the table hard enough to knock it over, but she was already moving, shoving Carrigan in front of her and army-crawling across the floor to a more secure spot. Where are Liam’s men?
More shots rang out, and then the screech of tires. Charlie counted to ten, then twenty. At thirty, Carrigan twisted to face her, shaking glass out of her long, dark hair. “Well, shit, gold digger. I guess we have to be friends now, since you just saved my life.”
She hadn’t, though. If Keira hadn’t yelled, she wouldn’t have known there was danger until it was too late. Charlie pushed herself up to a crouching position, wincing at the cuts covering her forearms and knees. Most of them were small—though it was hard to tell with all the blood—but there was probably still some glass embedded. This is going to suck.
“You okay, Keira?”
“Yeah.” She sounded a little shaky, but the glass hadn’t reached her spot.
Charlie’s stomach lurched at the bullet holes in the wall above their table, though. If she’d been standing there…
She wasn’t. None of us were. Stop worrying about what-if and move.
“Stay down.” Charlie didn’t think the shooters would come back around, but it wasn’t worth the risk.
Carrigan had her phone out. “Get back here now…Yes, I know I said you could grab food. Plans have changed. Now.” She hung up and immediately dialed again. “James. I’m fine.” Her eyes met Charlie’s, and she gave a wry smile at the lie. She was just as cut up, if not more so. “Okay, not totally fine. There was a drive-by.” A pause. “Yes, you’re right. The O’Malley house is closest. I’ll be there. Love you.”
Charlie belatedly realized she should probably be making a call of her own. She winced as she grabbed her phone, the move pulling on half a dozen cuts. The phone had barely rung when Aiden picked up. “What’s wrong?”
Of course he would know something was wrong. The only reason she would be calling was if plans had changed, and they never changed for positive reasons. Stop stalling and tell him what happened. She took a deep breath, but it did nothing to calm her racing heart or remove the shakiness from her voice. “There was a drive-by.”