Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Because if she were with me, she would never rise above what I am.
She deserves more than the man who raised her. More than the man who whored himself for money. More than the man who still wants her in ways he should never allow himself to imagine.
I shouldn’t have kissed her tonight, but I knew I would never have another chance.
I don’t want to let her go. Cutting ties will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Walking away and never seeing her again? It’s unfathomable.
But that is the right thing.
Expression blank, I stare at her, silent, refusing to answer, because if I put the truth into words, it becomes real. Final. And I need more time. Just a few more minutes to look at her, memorize her face, and make sure she’ll be okay without me.
She absently rubs the scars on her shoulder, the ones from that night that I couldn’t mend, because she ran from me. She’s never stopped running.
Until now.
The room shrinks, and the walls press in, suffocating.
Wolf watches us with narrowed eyes, analyzing our combative stares and unspoken emotions.
“Okay,” he finally says. “Let’s break this down.” He looks at me. “You still have feelings for her. True or false?”
My pulse gives a hard thud, but I flatten my lips and keep my face empty.
“Got it.” He turns to Dove. “You still have feelings for him?”
She glares at him, then at me.
“Is it a stepsibling thing?” He rakes a hand through his hair. “Is that what’s happening here?”
When neither of us answers, his gaze swings back to me.
“Tell me something, kitty cat. Are you here because you love her?” He leans in, putting his face in mine. “Or because you finally learned how to let her go?”
“Both,” I whisper.
Loud pounding rattles the front door. Fists, radios, boots on the porch. The security team.
Wolf blows out a breath. “Time’s up.”
The yacht rocks against the dock pilings, engines humming, ready to depart. The security team forms a loose ring around me, armed and vigilant. They know trouble when they smell it, and they’re not about to let me slip past them again.
But the real trouble is on the dock.
Wolf stands in the middle of it, louder than the wind, shoving verbal knives into every Strakh within range. Kodiak. Leonid. Monty. Even Frankie showed up.
Dove stands under Wolf’s arm, close against his side, holding him steady as the argument spirals out of control.
When the security team hauled me to the yacht, she pulled on warmer clothes and followed. Certainly not because she wanted to give me a proper goodbye.
She’s here for Wolf.
“No!” he shouts again, voice cracking across the water. “You’re not listening. I can’t let him leave without telling us what the hell is going on!”
“He’s not staying on the island.” Monty jabs a finger in Frankie’s direction. “I won’t risk the life of my pregnant wife.”
“Keep me out of this.” Frankie huffs.
Security shifts. The night shifts. My pulse remains calm.
Wolf wants answers I can’t give.
He thinks if he twirls his blade, curves his sexy lips, and lays on the full force of his charm, I’ll fold. He doesn’t know that the part of me capable of folding already surrendered to the Restrepo cartel.
I didn’t come here to offer explanations and build relationships.
I came to sever bonds and rest my eyes on Dove one last time.
And I did.
I saw her with Wolf. Curled against him in his bed, tucked tightly to his chest, his arm slung possessively around her. I saw them fitted together the way she used to fit with me.
I stood in their doorway long enough to memorize her quiet breathing and his protective grip. When I slipped the rock into her palm, he shifted and tensed, alerted by his feral sixth sense.
He didn’t wake fully, but he reacted.
Because she’s his.
I saw what I came to see. Saw enough to know she’ll be worshiped and loved and safe. That’s the only ending I ever wanted for her.
Now I must go.
My ending is already sealed, my fate signed in blood. The cartel gave me twenty-four hours to say goodbye.
I’m returning to Colombia tomorrow, whether Wolf wins this fight or not.
Dove breaks from the arguing cluster, steps to the edge of the dock, and glares at me.
“Fix this, Jag.” She lifts her chin. “It’s not a secret that you have enemies. Which one are you running from? How bad is it? If you don’t want me in the cross-hairs, tell us what we’re up against!”
Wolf turns, watching us, waiting for my response.
I hold Dove’s stare from the yacht’s railing. The moon glances off the water, illuminating the moat between us.
No matter how this night ends, she can’t find out about House of Crowe or what waits for me in Colombia.
“I want the truth.” She bares her teeth. “You owe me answers.”