Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
It was a bad idea. And yet here she was.
Her wrong thieving smile lit up her face as she headed around the desk and fished around underneath. Amberdash kept things he didn’t want anyone to access in a specific drawer. He’d opened it time and time again to hand her instructions for her next score, to offer an extra gun when he thought she might need it, and to pay her handsomely with stacks of hundred-dollar bills.
But he kept something else in there, too—his ledger.
He was smart enough to not keep all of his dirty dealings on the computer where anyone like Walter could hack in and access it. He’d been around long enough to write it down on paper and keep it in a locked drawer in his office that no one could access.
Kierse felt the little lock and bent down to eye level to peek at it. Ah, there were wards here.
She didn’t recognize the little symbol—some sort of flower. Maybe a daffodil?
Not a problem for her, though.
“Kierse? He’s coming back,” Lorcan said into her mind.
She needed to hurry. She forced the lock open with ease and pulled it free. She anticipated the sting of the ward, but nothing happened. Her brow furrowed. Why have a ward that didn’t work? It must have been the magic dampener.
The drawer unlatched to reveal a treasure trove—money, weapons, receipts, jewels, a packet of matches from a club in Queens, some uncut rocks.
“Well, well, well,” Kierse whispered as she grasped a large notebook at the back of the drawer. “Bingo.”
Lorcan came back into her mind. “Are you out? Did you hear me? I heard them talking about your disappearance.”
“I heard you. I’m leaving now.”
“Hurry the fuck up.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, forcing the drawer closed once more.
She took a step toward the freshly closed and locked door to Amberdash’s office when she heard the door rattle.
She was out of time. She hurried to the back where the exit to his private quarters was. The door was locked, and she tried to pick it, but there was now a punch code.
“He added a punch code to his quarters. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Get out of there now! I’m coming back.”
“No. I’ll find an exit.”
But where?
She ignored Lorcan. She could probably force the door open. It’d be noisy. He’d definitely know she had been there. But she could not get caught.
The door pushed open, and Kierse dove under his desk. She tugged her knees to her chest, crushing herself against the back of the space. Her heart was beating a staccato in her chest, and she had to hold her breath to keep him from hearing her.
He was going to find her. What was she going to do? She should have smashed through the door.
“Kierse?” Amberdash’s silky voice said into the silence.
She didn’t dare breathe. Everything froze as if in her slow motion, only it was the absolute horror of being caught. Normally, she would have broken through the door and dealt with the consequences later. But this was Amberdash. He’d find her. He’d kill her. Or worse make her one of his unwilling attendants.
Just the thought made her want to vomit. She shook out her trembling hands. She needed to be calm and collected to get through this.
“I know that you’re in here,” he said, closing the door behind him. “You can come out. We can have a conversation like adults.”
She closed her eyes and forced herself into a smaller ball. There were no exits. There was nothing she could do except stand up and face him.
But she couldn’t make her legs move. If she stood up, then she gave up. She’d have to leave the ledger behind, and there would never be an opportunity to get it again. And she didn’t know what Amberdash would do. What sick twisted game he would play at having caught her. She squeezed her eyes and hands shut with fear.
They’d lost with the stone and then Dallas in Vegas. She’d had to deal with an increasingly oppressive bond. Kingston was the Fae Killer. They needed this win.
“I wanted us to have a chance to catch up. I’m sure you were surprised when you found out that I was taking over the Men of Valor.”
She heard a cushion shift as if he’d moved the seat across from the desk. God, he was too close.
“But I wanted to let you in on the secret—I was always in charge of it. King Louis was the face of the organization when I needed more secrecy.”
Her stomach dropped. Amberdash had been in charge all along? How had she worked for him all those years—trusted him!—and he had been working against her?
“I knew you weren’t human,” he said smoothly. “Jason didn’t employ humans. I wouldn’t have guessed that you were a warlock, though. I like to get as many of them on my side as I can.”