Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 145(@200wpm)___ 116(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
“You’re jumpy,” Gustov said.
She spun around to find him in the entrance to the kitchen, but no gun in hand.
It was the strangest thing. All of her life, her mother had told her she could trust Gustov. He was the only man in their life who could be trusted, and yet as she looked at him, it was like all the missing pieces were falling into place.
She turned back to the kettle and poured the coffee. This time, her hand was steady. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she was able to gain some composure. She took a deep breath and expelled it.
“I’m not jumpy. I’m just not used to whistling kettles. It takes me by surprise.” She let out a little laugh and wondered what she could do or say to get him moving.
With his coffee made, she handed him the mug. “Why don’t we take this out into the sitting room?” she asked.
“That would be good.”
She watched him go and saw the bulge in the back of his pants.
“It was my father, wasn’t it?” she said. They had already cleared the kitchen, and with one hand, she held her mug of coffee. With the other at the base of her back, she had her hand on the gun she found in the kitchen.
Gustov stopped and turned around to face her. He dropped the façade for the first time in her life. Gone was the man with the smile on his lips and the laughter in his eyes. The man she thought could do no wrong and was more of a father to her than her own. The man she thought she could trust with her life, but all of that was a lie. This man was not to be trusted.
Staring into his eyes, she saw the real man for the first time. He was evil, cruel, and she knew he had been working with her father.
“It was going to be so easy. Your dad couldn’t stand Evelyn, but I didn’t mind her. She was pretty and kind, but he just wanted the money. We had no idea it was going to be so difficult for her to part with it. So, we came up with a plan. He’d take as much as he could while they were married, and I would attempt to get her to fall in love with me as her knight in shining armor who came to rescue her. Once the money was in my name, she was easy to dispose of.”
“She never gave you a penny,” Anastasia said.
“No, Evelyn had been taught by her parents to never allow her heart to fool her. Even as they started to die, she had her suspicions.”
“But you were taking money before then.” She recalled Bogdan telling her about the offshore accounts.
“Of course. Do you think I was going to trust your father? He was going to leave me out in the cold. He wanted me to do all the dirty work while he got all the money. Not happening.”
“So, which one of you was attempting to kill me?” Anastasia asked.
“That would be me and your father. We have a competition going to see who the best man is. The one who kills you gets the prize.”
She threw her hot coffee at him and immediately took off.
“You fucking bitch,” Gustov said.
Her heart was racing.
She couldn’t believe she and her mother could be so wrong about him, about all of them. Her father and Gustov had been working together this whole time, and she hadn’t even considered that. She felt so fucking betrayed and angry, and so many emotions flooded through her.
Her hands shook, and she quickly moved from her current hiding place, but it gave away her location, and Gustov was ready. He fired the gun, and she screamed. It didn’t hit her, and she heard him tut.
“I trained you, Anastasia. Do you really think you have what it takes to kill me?”
There was no way she was going to answer that. Right now, she wasn’t prepared for anything. Fear chased down her spine, and she felt sick to her stomach.
She had to stay focused. Gustov had told her that her life would hang in the balance, and one day it would either be life or death. She was not going to die today.
With the gun in her hand, she leaned around the corner, and from her years of training, she knew exactly where he was going to be, so she fired. She heard his grunt and knew she had gotten him.
Getting to her feet, she ran toward the bedroom, easing the door closed but not allowing it to click. There was no way to make her escape.
She pulled out her cell phone, and there was a message from Bogdan telling her to go to his men. It was too late.