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)
Something like panic bled into her voice. “Don’t put me on house arrest, Aiden. Please.”
He remembered all too well what she’d threatened to do the last time he’d issued the same command. Aiden crossed to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She felt so terrifyingly frail, like she might shatter into a million pieces if he hugged her too hard. “It’s only for a little while—and only at night. Take an escort and you can go wherever you damn well please during the day. But, Keira”—he waited for her to meet his eyes before he continued—“the second you ditch your protection duty, that privilege is gone. This is not a game, and I’m not making idle threats.”
Her hazel eyes filled with tears, making him feel like the biggest asshole in existence. He didn’t let that sway him, though. Her safety was more important than her freedom. Finally, she jerked out of his hold. “I hate you.”
“I know.” He’d do more to deserve that hate before this thing was through.
* * *
Charlie tried very, very hard not to think about the sheer amount of money she’d spent that day. Every time she’d balked, that bastard Liam had all but dragged her into another store and thrown her to the mercy of the salespeople there.
And they’d had none.
She ran her hand down her thigh, a small, ridiculous part of her thrilled at how soft the fabric of her dress felt. It was a deep purple, a simple sheath that she’d been assured was the height of fashion right now. She didn’t know much about that, but the price tag would have paid her rent for a month. Who the hell had that kind of money to spend on clothes?
Criminals.
Like the one who had her panting after him like some kind of fool. He hadn’t taken advantage of it last night, but that was more about his restraint than her morals. If he’d kissed me…
Her body flushed hot at the thought, and she had to fight not to squirm. This wasn’t her. Sex had a place, and she indulged whenever her hormones got too out of control, but it was always with appropriate men. Safe men.
Aiden O’Malley was many things, but appropriate didn’t begin to enter into the equation, and safe wasn’t even in the same universe. He was dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with the family he was born into, and everything to do what how he frayed her control without even trying. He was a man who inspired the kind of lust that left nothing but ash in its wake.
She had no intention of letting this devil’s bargain put her in the ground.
No, the only reason she was doing this was to see justice done when it came to Dmitri Romanov.
Justice sounds a whole lot like revenge.
She shoved the thought away. She’d deal with it when she was finally face-to-face with that monster. In the meantime, she had other things to worry about—like the fact that she was about to meet her fake fiancé’s family.
“We’re here.”
She jumped. The town house they’d pulled in front of was a monster. It reeked of money and pretentiousness, the massive front door sending a very clear message to people like her: You are not welcome. She didn’t come from money, but she’d encountered it enough to recognize it on sight.
I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Charlie climbed out of the town car, fighting the urge to throw herself into the backseat and demand that Liam take her back to New York. No matter what her former brothers in the NYPD thought of her, she wasn’t a coward. She could walk into this situation and be cool and collected, and not lose her head and do something reckless. She would.
Taking down Dmitri Romanov wouldn’t restore her good name, regain her father’s respect, or give her life back, but it was better than the alternative. Wasting her life away playing poker.
Before she could reconsider, she strode across the sidewalk and up the stairs. She hesitated for half a second, wondering if she should knock, but if she was supposedly Aiden O’Malley’s fiancée, this would be her home. She would rule at his side. Her stomach fluttered, but she wasn’t sure if it was nerves or flat-out fear.
This isn’t for real. I’m playing a part, not diving headfirst into the dark side. Dad would—
But she couldn’t think about her father without her chest twisting into knots. There wasn’t a more by-the-book man than John Finch. For her father, there were no shades of gray—there was only black and white, right and wrong. He wouldn’t approve of this plan, and if he found out she was “engaged” to Aiden O’Malley, he might arrest her himself. She didn’t know what he’d charge her with, but her dad could be a genius when it came to the law.