Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Kara.
I should be thinking about my company, but all I could do was think about her, and the man who’d put the bruise on her cheek.
I’d fucking kill Juric if I got the chance.
I swore out loud when the key in the front door gave me trouble. And once again when I saw what waited for me, propped against a box in my nearly empty living space.
A large, elegant frame wrapped around a stunning black and white picture. The only color was the blue bow draped across a corner of the frame, signifying this was a gift. A birthday present she’d intended for me to see after the party. Artwork for my bare walls.
I put a hand on the counter to steady myself as I gazed at the photograph that captured it so perfectly.
My brewery.
It made me ache. When I got her back, I was never going to let her go.
29
KARA
A pair of hands seized my shoulders, startling me awake, and I reeled around. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed, but it was growing dark outside. The rain had stopped.
My breath halted painfully as Juric came into focus. His blue eyes were only an inch away from my face, but he looked different. Maybe even worried. Was I delirious?
“Can you stand up for me?” His tone was so gentle, it was disorienting.
I tried to get up, but my body was as stiff as the tree I leaned against. A voice that sounded like mine spoke, but it was odd and detached. “I’m thirsty.”
“I’ve got water in the car.” He straightened and peered over his shoulder, speaking nonsense.
Wait, no. That was Italian. Who was he talking to?
The other man, who I couldn’t see, responded, and Juric’s gaze drifted back to me. Sticks and gravel crunched underfoot as the other man went, leaving me alone with the pair of unflinching eyes I hated.
He put a hand under each arm and drew me forward, up into his embrace. I wanted to fight, but I was too weak. It took everything I had just to remain standing. When he pulled a hand away and saw it was wet with my blood, he frowned. Some sort of decision was made, and he bent, putting one arm around my back and the other behind my knees so he could scoop me up.
“Don’t,” I groaned in pain.
He ignored that and carried me in his arms, sloshing through the forest. I struggled to stay conscious and lucid, but every blink made my surroundings change.
“It’s not that much farther,” he said.
When I blinked again, we were beside the Mercedes. He set me on my feet and leaned me against the car, but as he reached for the door handle my knees gave out and my body crumbled.
“Shit,” he gasped. Rough hands grabbed me to stop my collapse.
I was aware he was holding me, but he’d done worse things, so I wasn’t going to waste what little energy I had left fighting him right now. I simply had to survive until rescue could get to me.
He sat me in the passenger seat, and his hands were unsteady when he unscrewed the cap to the water bottle before passing it to me. He’d been so controlled and confident yesterday. It was like my escape had unraveled him, just a little.
I drank and drank, until the water bottle was empty. He started the car and blasted the heat on high, but it did nothing to remove the chill. My bones felt like they were made of ice. I expected him to produce handcuffs or another needle, but all he did was stare at the steering wheel, looking puzzled.
What the hell was going on? I folded my arms around my body—
Everything went black.
I came to, curled up on a plush rug. The tile floor beneath it was hard and cold, but I didn’t mind. I was warm and it didn’t hurt anymore. I felt . . . good. Happy, even.
There was a noise that took a moment to identify. A shower running. I pushed up on my hands, so I could sit and take in my surroundings.
This wasn’t the tiny bathroom in the basement—it was large and open. The all-glass shower had a seat in it. My head was foggy, dulling the alarm I should be feeling. Where was I?
Juric leaned against the counter, watching me intently, his face filled with something that might pass as concern.
“Are you in any pain?”
I ignored him and put a dirt-caked foot underneath my body, pulling myself up with a hand on the counter. Which was not a good idea, and he was ready when everything blurred from moving too quickly.
“Where am I?” I recovered and tried to back out of the arms that trapped me.
“Where we were before.”
I hoped the relief that swept through me didn’t show. He could have moved me while I was passed out, derailing my plan—