Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I reach for the knife in my boot, and I’m on him before he can blink, flipping him around, pulling his hair back, and slicing his neck. Blood spurts over the top of his car, and he gurgles, shuddering wildly. He’s dead before he hits the ground.
I wipe the knife off on the top of his jacket. It’s one of my favorites, and I’m not leaving it with him. I stick it in the sheath, making a mental note to sterilize everything later. Not that I’ll be a suspect in this one. There aren’t any cameras here, and the authorities are going to find not only him, but his phone records about those kids.
I walk back toward Garik. “Garik, do you have a burner phone?”
“I’ve got two.” He pulls one out of his pocket.
“Good.” We move through the rain back toward the car. “Call in an anonymous tip to the cops about those kids in the trailer, and disguise your voice.”
He nods. “I’m already on it.” He quickly makes the call. We dodge into the vehicle and quickly leave this desolate area.
I arrive at Rosalie’s house and climb up to her suite, ditching my clothes and taking a shower. The place feels empty without her, and I’m seriously irritated. It’s nearly dawn, which means wherever she is, she’s not coming back. It’s also Saturday, so there’s no need for her to go to work. If she thinks she’s going to ghost me for an entire weekend, she’s lost her mind.
A knock sounds on the door, and I open it with just a towel around my hips. Seven men stand on the entryway. “Where is she?” Merlin asks.
“I don’t know. I need you to find her.”
Percy scrubs both hands down his face. “Do you think she’s been kidnapped?”
“No. I think she’s with her friend Ella, and I think she’s putting herself in danger.”
Wally winces. “Yeah. There’s a lot of chatter, people trying to find them both after that disc showing Hendrix being arrested was released. They figure since Rosalie’s your lawyer, she had something to do with it.”
Heat rushes through me. “Everyone’s looking?”
“Oh, yeah. Cops, your family, even the Twenty-One Purple gang.”
The last one gives me pause. I must not be working fast enough for Reyes, and he’s hedging his bets. He’s never been stupid.
Merlin clears his throat. “Also, I monitored your known phone numbers, and you have a message on one.”
I look at him. “You did what?”
He shrugs. “I’m telling you, I’m looking for Rosalie. If you did something to her, you’re going to deal with all seven of us.”
I don’t have time to handle this right now. I left my phone at the penthouse, considering I was off committing crimes all night. “What did the message say?”
“It was from a guy named Urbano at the prison. It didn’t make a lot of sense.”
“What did he say?” I repeat, blood rushing faster through my veins.
Merlin tugs on his green bowtie. “He said he was just checking, that his commissary account is low, and that three out of five numbers isn’t enough. He said he’ll have somebody else invest his money. Do you know what that means?”
“I know what that means,” I say. “Can you access my accounts?”
Now Merlin draws back, looking affronted. “Of course.”
“Put some money in Urbano Reyes’s commissary account at the prison.” Truth be told, I had promised to do that.
“What about the three out of five investments?” Merlin asks.
I’m too tired to lie to these guys. “He means kills. And now it’s four out of five finished.”
“Oh.” Percy frowns. “I guess you better get the fifth one done, huh?”
I shut the door in their faces, turning to reach for my clothing. Unfortunately, the fifth one is Ella Rendale.
THIRTY-TWO
Rosalie
“Rosalie, wake up,” Ella says urgently.
I roll over and blink, for a moment thinking we’re back at the boarding school in Switzerland. I flip on the light. Ella’s hideaway is a cute two-bedroom Craftsman in a quiet residential neighborhood. I tossed and turned for a while last night thinking about Alexei, but finally I drifted into sleep. “Wh-what?” I mumble.
“You’re not going to believe this. Get out of bed.” She pulls me from the bed, and I pad barefooted into the adorable kitchen where she has her laptop on a fifties-style red-and-silver table. I sit in a matching chair and yawn widely, dressed in one of her small T-shirts and my underwear. “What’s going on?” I’m still half asleep.
She flips a laptop around so I can see the screen. “Hendrix Sokolov was murdered last night.”
I jolt wide awake. “Are you serious? The news is reporting a murder?”
She shakes her head. “No. I hacked into the local PD system. The media doesn’t have it yet.”
I look at the microwave. It’s six in the morning. “Where’s Alexei?”
“I don’t know,” she says.
I stand. “You need to take me home.” I brush my teeth, capture my thick hair in a ponytail, hurriedly get dressed, and soon she’s driving me in the battered old white car to my place. We screech to a stop on the front curb. “Thanks.”