Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“She’ll be back. They let her have a bath.”
I was jealous. I wanted a shower, but they refused to let me until tomorrow. Skylar did promise a sponge bath later, and I planned on holding her to that.
“And Sean?”
“He’ll be back in a moment. He went for coffee.”
He sat down, the chair creaking under his large frame. “I’ve showered a dozen times since this ended. I can’t get clean enough,” he stated. “The feel of the water, the rush of air on my skin, is fantastic.”
I nodded in understanding. Sean told me Michael had worn his disguise twenty-four seven, including contacts, only able to remove either for the briefest of time periods. I could only imagine how good it felt not to be covered up. The cleansing feel of the water would be quite something.
The violence he had seen, that he’d been part of, would take far longer to be cleansed away. I knew I was going to have nightmares for a long time. I wondered if Michael would ever get over what this assignment had done to him.
We shared a looked that said it all, without a word passing between us.
“I need to thank you.”
He frowned. “For what?”
“Protecting Skylar.”
He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “If I could have figured out a way of not bringing her to Orson, I would have—but I was trapped. If I didn’t, my cover was blown. I had to trust her, and the two of you, to figure it out and hope we all came out alive.”
“What the fuck was one of Orson’s guys doing in that area?”
“It was a total fluke. He was visiting his momma. He couldn’t believe it when he saw you. He called Orson right away.”
That explained the call Sean had witnessed.
“Orson had him follow you. Then he sent me to the farmhouse to see what you were hiding—he wanted to know why you had another place so far away and why the hell you weren’t at the club. He was pretty pissed you had slipped past his security.”
I smirked. “It was shit.”
“It was. I must have forgotten to mention the large holes he allowed in his so-called plans. He was so old-school. He ignored shit all the time, and I knew it would work for us.”
“Egotistical idiot.”
“Yep. So when Skylar opened the door, I knew. It explained so much. The reason you took her with you that night in the warehouse, the fact that she was still alive, meant two things.”
I arched my eyebrow at him.
He held up his finger. “One, she had somehow become important to you since you were hiding her presence from Orson. And two, if you were hiding that, you were hiding other things, which meant you were the one dismantling Orson’s empire. You were the missing link I couldn’t find.”
“I couldn’t find you either.”
He shrugged. “We’re both fucking excellent at our jobs. Skylar was your one mistake.”
“She was an unexpected complication, but I don’t regret her.”
“I’m sure you don’t. She’s quite something. She was so anxious to help you—to do anything she could to make sure you were safe and your assignment was completed. She didn’t think twice about coming with me and being a pawn.”
“She wouldn’t. She never thinks about what could happen to her,” I said disapprovingly.
“I wouldn’t have let anything happen to her, Cian. It wasn’t part of my directive, but I had already decided Orson was dying that day. I was tired of his evil, and regardless of what else happened, it was time.”
A shiver went through my body as I remembered seeing Orson behind her, holding a knife to her throat.
“It came close,” I mumbled.
“I was monitoring it. I had to make sure I hit him, not her—and I was trying to buy Sean some time. I figured he’d taken out Larry and would have called in your backup. Mine was slow in coming. I didn’t have the reserves you did—I was in too deep.”
“Part of me, the largest part, wishes she’d never gone through that. But I am grateful it’s over. Once she knew what was happening, I’m not surprised she insisted on being part of it.”
“She did, once she calmed down.” He shook his head and sighed. “I frightened her when she opened the door, and she tried to get away—she was expecting your man, not me. When she fell and hit her face, I tried to help her…” He grimaced as if in pain.
“What happened?”
“She kicked me in the balls and cursed at me, threatening many things, among them assuring my inability to father children in the future.” He chuckled. “Quite the spitfire, your sidekick.”
“She is that.”
“Anyway, I calmed her down and made sure she understood I was a good guy. Then she told me you were as well, which confirmed my suspicions. I told her I had to take her back with me, but I’d make sure she was protected. We came up with a plan and, well, you know what happened. A few things didn’t exactly work, but we made it out.”