Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“You didn’t think about where you’d go?”
“I had vague ideas. Somewhere in Southeast Asia maybe or down in the Caribbean. Or I could try my luck in Rotterdam or see if I could slip into London. I had ideas, but none of them mattered as much as erasing myself.”
“You were hurting.”
“People died because of me. That job in Vegas, it went very wrong, and people died. But I came back and I survived, but I don’t think I ever really healed, and now I’m under the thumb of the Brotherhood, doing what I’ve always done, and I hated it. I didn’t want to steal from your family. I never intended to hurt Davit or anyone else, but here I am, making all the same mistakes.” I drop my face into my hands.
Tallie rubs my back. I don’t know why she does it. I don’t deserve her pity or her comfort. She should be stabbing me in the throat, not trying to make me feel better.
“I don’t blame you for what happened with Sam. I was so mad when it first happened, but I understand it now. This is what they do, right? Arsen and all the others in the Brotherhood? They steer you and use you, like they did to me.”
I look up and she’s watching me, and I swear I’ve never seen her looking so determined before, like a new woman slipped into her skin. It’s the same Tallie, only with bones of iron.
“I was always supposed to be perfect,” she says, fingers curling into my back. “But I was never any good at it, and that’s probably why they tried to trash me the first chance they got. Papa never cared much about me, not the way he cares about Annie. I wanted to be good, but what did that ever get me? When you came into my life, I was barely living. I was always there, always visible, the center of attention, but I was like a black hole, sucking it in, giving nothing of substance back. I was a ghost floating through the days.”
“I’m still a ghost sometimes.”
“Then we can haunt them together.” She moves closer. “I’m not giving up, Brenden, and you’re not either.”
“Tallie—“
“No, I mean it. We’re not giving up.”
I lean into her. “I was never going to stop. It’s not about me anymore. I wanted to disappear before, but then you came into my life, and now I realize I want to be seen. I want to stay in one place, so long as you’re there. I’m sorry, baby, I really am, about Davit and Sam, about your cousins and everything. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest about what was happening from the start. I tried to protect you, but I only made it worse.” I shift my weight and drop to my knees in front of her. I take her hands between mine and lift them to my lips, kissing them softly. “I want to do this. I want to figure a way out if that means being with you, or even if it means making sure, you’re safe and your family is safe too.”
“I don’t want to lose you.” She bends down to kiss me gently. “I don’t want you to disappear.”
I kiss her harder, holding her tight, and her voice rings in my head. This is only half. An idea forms as I hold that kiss, and when I break away, I’m smiling.
“What’s that look?” She sounds bewildered.
“If there’s this—“ I gesture at the ledger. “There has to be a twin.”
“I mean, probably, but—“
“The Davises will have it. I guarantee that. And I promise their security will be trash compared to what Arsen’s got. If we can find their half and put the two together, I think I know how we can get out of this nightmare.”
She laughs. I doubt she believes me, and I can’t blame her. I’m the shattered shell of a man, but I’m building myself back up. I’m finding ways to be seen, to stay in one place, to remain solid, if that means having her.
“Alright then, I guess we have one more heist before this is over.” She grins massively and kisses me hard. “Look at what you’re doing, turning me into a proper thief.”
“By the time I’m done, you’ll be thoroughly corrupted.”
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart.”
I fist her hair and slip my tongue into her mouth. She knocks over the coffee mug and I don’t give a damn if it spills all over the floor. I pull her against me, hands exploring her body, greedy and desperate to touch her skin. I need this, my wife, my anchor, because without her I have no reason to stay, nothing holding me here anymore.
She’s the heart of my life now.
I take her into the bedroom and strip her down. Morning light plays off her skin. It’s beautiful, the way she glows. I can’t believe how lucky I am to end up with a woman like her. Anyone else and I’d be gone already, either on the run or self-destructing, but Tallie makes me want to find my center again. I hold her down on the bed, kissing her inner thighs, and feast between her legs. Her moans are music as I lick her, making her feel pleasure in the face of enormous horrors and long odds, and not caring if this might all come crashing down.