Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Inside, Stone took me straight to my room. Without hesitation, I kicked off my shoes and crawled onto the bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I let sleep overtake me, barely registering the soft blanket that Stone used to tuck me in.
Chapter 17
Stone
Iclosed the door, leaving Serenity asleep on her bed. Running a hand through my hair, I stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a beer. Sitting at the table, I drank half of it down and closed my eyes.
What kind of shit was that? Serenity had scared me half to death. Her contorted face held such anguish that I had to physically grab her in order to pull her out of the vision.
I shook my head. She’d barely missed death once already today, and then this? It was still hard to believe that the bullet had grazed her head.
This day was turning into a real shit-show. It didn’t help that we were no closer to figuring out who the guy was, either. This had to end before Serenity got killed.
It was time to set up a sting. Let him walk into my trap, for a change. That meant I had to bait him. Even if there were some downsides to that idea, it was better than running around like a chicken with its head chopped off.
A knock sounded at the door, and Vanetti stepped in. He took in my beer and raised a brow. “Ricky told me what happened. Where’s Serenity?”
“She’s asleep. She passed out as soon as she laid down.”
“Good.” Vanetti stepped to the fridge and grabbed a bottle for himself. He popped the cap and sat down at the table, taking a long swig. “It sounded like she got something from her vision.”
“Yeah… the tattoos on his fingers. That’s pretty vague, but I guess it’s better than nothing.”
“Did she tell about the vision she saw at the window?”
I huffed out a breath. “Not really… I mean… this vision seemed like it was full of dark emotions. I think she tried to pull herself out of it, but was stuck there until I pulled her into my arms. It scared her. Hell, it scared me. I thought she was a goner there for a sec.” I shook my head. “I’m not sure how much longer we can do this. I think we’d better change tactics.”
“I tend to agree.” Vanetti splayed his fingers on the table. “Let’s see what we can come up with. We need to set up a sting. Where would be a good place for that?”
“The first thing that comes to my mind is Razor’s shop. But I doubt he’d go for that.”
Vanetti huffed. “Probably not, but I’m sure we could convince him to cooperate.”
∞∞∞
An hour later, Serenity came into the kitchen, her hair tousled, and her eyes still a little droopy. She stopped short to see Vanetti and me. “Oh… hey.”
I gave her a small smile. “Feeling any better?”
“Yeah. My headache finally went away, and my butt doesn’t even hurt anymore. Small miracles, right?”
Vanetti’s brows rose, and he sent me a pointed stare.
“She got hit by a piece of burning furniture in the explosion last night. It burned right through her dress before I got it off of her.”
Vanetti raised a brow. “The dress?”
“No! The furniture.”
He snickered. “Right.”
Serenity shook her head at me before opening the fridge and taking out a can of Diet Coke. She brought it to the table and sat down. “I just realized I should have added hazard pay to my contract.” She raised her brow at Vanetti. “You got off easy, considering all the times I’ve nearly died, and we’re not even close to being done yet.”
His lips turned down, but he nodded. “You have a point, but I think you’re being more than compensated.”
Unable to argue with that, she shrugged. “So, any ideas on what to do next?”
“We’re working on it,” Vanetti replied. He sent me a pointed stare. “But first, we need to find somewhere else for you to stay.” He glanced toward the living room. “It’s not safe here.”
“I’ve got a great security system at my house. We can stay there.”
Vanetti shook his head. “I don’t like it. Besides, you don’t want your place to get blown up, right?”
“You have a point. So what did you have in mind?”
“I could put you up in a hotel for tonight, then you could go to a different one the next night, and so on, until we flush the guy out.”
“I have a better idea,” Serenity said. “Why don’t we just stay at my place? Stone’s enemy doesn’t know anything about me. We should be fine there while we figure out our next move.”
Vanetti nodded. “I like it. What about you, Stone? Think it will work?”
“Yeah. It’s a good idea, as long as no one knows.”
“Then it’s settled.” Vanetti stood. “Leave your bike and car here, and go home with her. That should throw him off your trail for now. In the meantime, I’ll look into those ideas we discussed. We’ll talk some more tomorrow.”