Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
His fingers tightened.
The bruising pressure deepened.
I bit the inside of my lower lip to keep it from trembling.
“You think I didn’t see you?”
I forced the smile to spread. Small, a little confused.
My stomach sloshed.
“See me?”
“Coming out of that hotel.”
The words hit like ice water.
The chill burrowed into my bones.
Did he know?
About Milo?
About the plans?
I tilted my head slightly. Softening, soothing, doing what I always had to when he got in an uncomfortable mood.
“There’s a bar in the hotel, Frank,” I said.
A lie, wrapped up in a truth.
It normally would have worked.
But his face—
Something was wrong.
He wasn’t buying it.
His jaw flexed, eyes dark yet also fever-bright.
“Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“Of course, I don’t—”
“You think I don’t know what is going on right under my nose?”
Dread flickered.
“You’ve got customers lining up for your attention all night,” he said, voice tightening with each word. “And now you’re sneaking off to finish the job elsewhere?”
The accusation slammed into me.
Ugly.
Charged.
Yet not wholly unexpected.
But I spoke too fast.
I didn’t think.
“That’s ridiculous.”
I knew it instantly.
That was the wrong move.
The wrong words.
My heartbeat stumbled.
His grip grew even more punishing.
“You lying little whore.”
The word cracked the air between us.
My breath hitched.
Not at the insult. At the venom. At the naked fury vibrating under his skin.
It was his usual jealousy, yes. But it was something else too. Something feral. Unhinged.
I shifted tactics.
My voice softened, grew cloyingly sweet.
“Hey…” I said, giving his hand a squeeze, then sliding up his arm slightly. Placating. An intimacy I never would have initiated otherwise.
It was the choreography of survival.
I just hoped to hell I knew the steps.
“You’re upset.”
“I’m pissed.”
“I see that.” My tone went warmer, coaxing. “Frank, I have never… sold myself to customers.”
“Yeah, you all say that.”
“All? Frank, it’s just you and me right now.”
“Teasing whores, all of you,” he snarled, yanking me closer.
The pain was a white flash across my vision that had me blinking back tears.
“Frank, please. This is me you’re talking to.”
“Always flirting. Always hinting at things you never let me have. Then I catch you… giving it out to some random tourist. Did you do it just for the money? Or did you like it? I bet you liked it, you slut.”
Suddenly, horribly, I felt it.
The shift.
Every other time, rebuffs had been met with a certain level of playful frustration.
A cat-and-mouse game.
But he’d gotten tired of the chase.
Now, he had me in his claws.
And I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what was going to come next.
“Frank, I—”
“You think I’m stupid?” His voice was a slap, making me jerk back. “Getting diamond necklaces without spreading your legs. No man is stupid enough to spend that much without getting pussy.”
Bile slid up my throat, making me regret all the food I’d just eaten.
There was no flirting my way out of this.
There was no fawning that would ease the sharp edges of his rage.
“I got a drink at the bar,” I insisted, chin lifting, eyes holding his. “Alone. Let’s go ask the bartender—” My arm screamed as I tried to walk in the direction of the hotel.
But he just pulled me closer.
“You’re gonna give me what you owe me,” he snapped.
And I was suddenly too aware of the space between buildings, the cover of darkness that could hide all kinds of sins.
I had to get away.
I had to…
“Hey!” a voice called, sounding slow and thick.
High? Drunk?
“Hey, I know you!” the voice declared, making both Frank and me turn to watch him stumbling toward us, his gait so unstable that it was a miracle he stayed upright.
He wore black slacks and a black button-up, but he looked messy, like he’d had a rough night. Likely losing at the tables and drowning that disappointment in a bottle.
“Fuck off,” Frank snapped as the man slow-blinked at him while he drew closer.
“No, I know you! You’re the guy. The guy with the place!”
God.
How was he still walking and talking with how wasted he was?
“I’m busy here,” Frank snarled, barely glancing at the guy as he got even closer.
I turned my focus to the stranger.
I didn’t have a lot of hope.
I mean, he could barely string words together. How could he help me?
But maybe if he could just tick Frank off enough to release me, I could run.
I could—
If I hadn’t been watching the drunk stranger so closely, I would have missed it.
But I saw his one hand disappear up his sleeve and come back with… a needle?
Before I could even wrap my head around its appearance, he had the cap off, grabbed Frank from behind, and jammed it into his neck.
Frank staggered, then fell.
I didn’t even get a chance to see if he was still conscious when he landed.
Because another hand reached for me, grabbing my wrist in a firm, but gentle, grip.
“We gotta run,” he said.
I didn’t know the guy from Adam.
There was no reason to trust him.