Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
He had dark brown hair that was slightly longer on top, a short beard, and appeared to be in his late thirties. Handsome, strong, dangerous-looking. His rich, deep-brown-eyed gaze started at the base of my dress and worked its way up until it met my eyes.
There was no expression on his face, but I got the sense that was because he was guarding it. This man knew me, but I had no immediate recognition of him.
“Who are you?” My voice was strong when I felt none of it.
His gaze left mine, snapping to Ryan when he stepped into view, and the man’s expression was pure malice. The atmosphere in the room was taut, full of rage that seeped from every inch of the two men as they glared at each other.
The man’s jaw flexed, like he was holding back the words he wanted to unleash, but when his gaze returned to me, his dark expression faded. Worry filled his warm eyes. “Are you all right?”
Out of nowhere, Plavko stepped forward and sank his fist into the man’s stomach. The impact of it was sickening, and I stifled my scream while the defenseless man groaned and swore.
“I thought my man made it clear,” Ryan said, “you don’t get to talk to her.”
Tension was spiraling, winding recklessly tight and threatening to snap at any moment. I couldn’t stand being in the dark for another second. I’d been dark for too long already.
I glared at Ryan, who looked more like a stranger than he ever had. “Tell me who he is right now.”
“You don’t tell me what to do,” he snarled, his voice going into the scary, authoritative tone from before, the one that had forced me to black out. “I tell you what to do, Laurel. Leave. Now.”
My body moved independent of my mind. Everything was completely beyond my control. The simple act of him saying my name was an order I could not disobey. I wanted to speak, to protest, to stand my ground.
But my feet moved, one and then the other, forcing me toward the door. I willed my arm to reach out and grab hold of something as I was propelled from the room, but it would not do as I asked.
I screamed against the possession, but nothing came out. The man in the chair watched me, following my path until I began to pass by—
“I found you, L.”
His words disrupted whatever spell had overtaken me, letting me pull to a stop, and I gasped in my newfound freedom.
God, his intense gaze. It burned all the way through me. He wasn’t familiar outside of the flash of a memory.
But that single memory was enough.
45
LAUREL
It wasn’t like the movies, where all my memories came flooding back in a giant rush. I only had the one, the moment where this man whispered that he might love me.
It was a flash, and that was it, but I could hear, and taste, and feel everything in that memory. I could even smell the dusty scent of the thick, red curtains draped around us. The love I felt for him came flooding back, and for the first time since I’d awoken out on the balcony, I felt warm.
Plavko struck the man again, this time in the face, causing the man to turn his head and spit blood. I couldn’t draw air into my lungs. My shoes were made of concrete.
“I asked you to leave.” Ryan appeared concerned I hadn’t departed, hadn’t obeyed.
I swallowed hard. “I want to stay.”
It was impossible to tell which bothered him more, that I’d defied him, or the way his hulking bodyguard shifted, uneasy.
Another piece came into focus. Plavko hadn’t said “It’s done” earlier. He’d said, “It’s Dunn.” As in Deputy U.S. Marshal Jason Dunn.
Here now in Croatia to find me, because that was what he was so good at.
“You want to stay? Fine. Come here,” Ryan commanded, “Laurel.”
The force of the word was crushing and unrelenting, and trying to resist only made it worse. The pain was similar to when I tried to recall memories.
No, not similar—it was exactly the same.
But I had no choice, utterly powerless.
One new memory was all I had, so I clung to it as the only thing I knew was true and let it unlock another while I marched forward. My rain-soaked body was huddled together with Jason’s under a blanket, the fire crackling in the fireplace and the heat between us burning much hotter.
“This man wants to take you away from me.” Ryan turned me in his arms to face Jason, wrapping me so tightly I couldn’t move. “Tell him you want to stay.”
The muscles running along Jason’s jaw tensed. He spit another mouthful of blood on the floor and his face turned to steel. “She won’t do that.”
“Really? Maybe I should convince you how in love we are.”