Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“I’ll get you some whiskey. That’ll warm you up.”
I watch him cross the room and open a cabinet. His back is broad, those scars I saw on his chest also mark his shoulders, his lower back. A moment later, he returns with a tumbler of whiskey. I don’t like it, but I drink it because he’s right, it will warm me. It makes me choke at first, but then it’s all right and I drink it all.
“Better?” he asks.
I take a breath in, look up at him and nod. “Where is he?” I ask again.
“He should never have taken you.”
“What?”
He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about Cassian now. Lie down, close your eyes.”
“Is he going to put me back there?”
“No. Just lie down, Allegra.”
“But when he comes back—”
“I’ll be here. I won’t allow it. Now lie down. Close your eyes.”
I nod because that’s what I want too. To lie down and burrow under the heavy, second duvet he is laying on top of me. I hug them to me, covering half of my face up to my ears and closing my eyes as if that will keep me safe in this violent world of ours.
16
CASSIAN
When I walk into the house, I find Jet leaning casually against the kitchen counter peeling a green apple, the skin hanging from the fruit in one long swirl. He watches my approach, his gaze dark.
Angelo’s text comes back to me. The gun that someone hand-delivered to Vivi’s mother in the guise of a present for a two-year-old is registered to Blackstone Holdings.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demand, the bullet burning a hole in my pocket. I stalk up to him.
Blackstone Holdings could mean Jet, Severin, Sybil or any one of their security team.
“Your dog call you?” he asks, making a barking noise at Enzo.
In fact, Enzo did call me as I was on my way back from the café. Jet and Enzo hate each other. They have from day one. Jet slices off a wedge of the apple and brings it to his mouth at the point of the sharp knife. He eats it before slicing another and holding it out to me like we’re not discussing what we’re discussing.
I slap his arm away. The apple goes flying, the knife clanking loudly on the stone floor. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?”
He stands up to his full height and comes nose-to-nose with me.
“What the fuck was I doing?” he asks, eyes narrowed. “Do you have any fucking idea how cold it is down there? Did you want her to freeze to death? Or just be terrified to death?”
I snort, but he’s not wrong.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He shoves me backward.
Enzo takes a step toward us, but I signal for him to stop, never taking my eyes off Jet. I recall the leak about the shipment within my own household and now this. Now that gun. Am I surrounded by traitors?
“Why do you care? And while you’re answering that question, why don’t you tell me what the hell you’re doing here anyway?”
His jaw tenses, and I see a twitch. “You know a simple thank you would suffice.”
“Answer my question. What are you doing here when I’m not here?” I glance at my open bedroom door, walk over because I have a feeling. When I find the bed empty, I stalk back and round on Jet. “Where is she?” I ask, my voice that of a predator.
He grins.
I glance at the door that leads to his bedroom. Correction. Not his bedroom. The room he used to use when he stayed over. When things were different.
He watches me.
I draw a deep breath in. She’s in his bed. I know it. She’s in his fucking bed. “Did you touch her, Jet?”
A smirk curves one corner of his mouth upward. “Would it upset you if I did?”
I fist the collar of his shirt. “Did. You. Fucking. Touch. Her?”
He grips my collar, mimicking my posture. “Well, I’m no magician and she couldn’t walk so what do you think?” He shoves me backward, unafraid. Jet knows me better than any member of his family. There was a time when we were friends. As close as brothers. Maybe I even wanted that and that’s why he’s so fucking brazen now. “You seem pretty upset considering the fact she’s just collateral.” He pauses dramatically and I want to fucking kill him. “Or isn’t she?”
“It’s none of your business what she is.” I drop my grip and walk away, pushing a hand through my hair.
I hadn’t planned on leaving her down there for as long as I did. It was only to scare her. I planned on going back in half an hour, max. Just giving myself enough time to clean up the blood. Take care of the wound. But then the shit hit the fan.