Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
“—both of you get in this car.”
Millie's gaze locks with mine, her pupils blown wide. A tear hovers on her lower lash line. I squeeze her hand and feel wetness between our palms, her fingers twitching against mine.
“It's going to be okay,” I whisper low. This has to do with the club. Leaning in, my lips brush her ear. “I won't let anything happen to you. I swear it.”
Releasing her hand, I slide into the car first, before grabbing at her and pulling her in after me and slamming the door shut.
I'm many things. Stubborn, reckless, too trusting for my own good. Sexual exploration happens without apology, and this smart mouth lands my ass in trouble. But if there's one person in this world I would undoubtedly lay my own life down for—no thought, zero hesitation, not a heartbeat's doubt—it's my sister.
Millie’s fingers are braided with mine, so tight my knuckles ache, and the club lights outside the limo window are nothing but streaks of colour.
“Listen,” I start without thinking. “Whatever the club is involved in, you’ve picked the wrong target. They don’t care about me.”
He leans forward, cutting off the words that fall from my mouth as I suck in a breath. “Richard?” This time he’s not wearing his usual glasses, and shit, I wish I could put my finger on those eyes. “What the hell?”
He smiles, the scarred surface of his face wrinkling. “I suppose you have called me that for the past three months, but I can go by another name.”
Every warning bell in my head is ringing loud enough to make my ears bleed.
Embers fall from his cigar. “You can call me your worst nightmare.”
Confusion tangles my tongue as my mouth opens and closes. “I doubt that,” I whisper with a chuckle, sliding my arm in front of Millie’s. “I've seen my worst nightmare, and you don't wear his cut.”
He laughs so loud I flinch. I wasn’t that funny.
“Hmm,” he smirks, as if displeased. She shifts forward even further. So close, I swear I could feel his breath on my chin. “Are you sure?”
Minutes pass. Richard. My lucky ticket to expanding the bakery. He never hovered long, and every encounter we’d had, he wore sunglasses. I didn’t find it odd, since we only ever met in daylight, and I figured someone of his kind of money doesn’t get to where they are without being cocky enough to think he doesn’t need to remove sunglasses indoors.
His finger taps against his pants, the seconds ticking by slower.
But those eyes.
Familiar...
He chuckles as if annoyed that I’m not catching on. “Speaking of nightmares, what about the one that’s real?”
I freeze. Those eyes… I know… everything turns to white noise. “Cheers, Geek.”
I grip Millie’s arm. “Eddy.”
He doesn't flinch, and every image I have of him flicks through my brain, none of him like this though. Scarred. Withered. Looking ten times his age. What the fuck is happening.
Panic punches me in the gut. Whatever this is, it can’t touch Millie. “Let her out. This is about is between us.”
“Tsk, tsk,” he flicks the ash off his cigar. “That's where you're wrong, you see, the both of you?” he jerks his finger at us. “Took something from me.”
“Otče náš, jenž jsi na nebesích...” Our Father who art in heaven. The words twist in the air between us, each syllable dripping with a threat.
Millie's fingers dig into my arm.
He knows about Prague. About everything we buried there.
“How?” The question scratches past my throat. “How did you find out?”
Richard's face splits into a weird smile. “Let’s keep the pointless questions away.”
Anger bubbles beneath my skin. “Why the fuck would you care what I did?”
His mouth clenches. “Asking why I would care? Now, now, that's just cruel.”
He leans back in his chair, the idling of the engine soft. “Are you ready for my offer? A new one, that is?”
I swallow, my future draining before my eyes. This man holds my entire business. He could take more from me than my virginity. Than my body.
I fling the door open and empty the contents of my stomach.
“What?” Millie asks, rubbing my back. “What could you possibly want more of?”
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, slamming the door shut again. The limo idles, trapping us in this leather coffin.
Eddy continues. “Do you know exactly who I am?” I did. After the incident, I looked into Eddy and his family. It’s why I never reported the incident. What’s the point when he was the son of a respected politician? The odds were stacked against me. I didn’t know what he did now, though. I was hoping he’d be dead.
Millie’s voice breaks through. “You’re on the regional council in Dunedin. You went for Mayor but lost out.” She stares at him blankly. “Melissa may not had followed you, but I did.”