Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 124(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 124(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Step two: change vehicles.
I take a hard left and hammer the gas. My backup ride, an old pickup that Jimmy doesn’t know about, is sitting in the back of a rarely used parking garage. I pull in and park beside it.
“Get out,” I growl.
Annie glares at me, but she does as I say. Her face is so sweet. So innocent. She doesn’t deserve this. I want to be nicer to her, but if I give in now, if I let my focus falter one tiny bit, it could mean her death.
And I can’t live with that.
My keys are stashed on a steel girder out of most people’s reach. I grab them and unlock the truck. This time, Annie gets in without being asked, but she’s not happy about it. She just knows there’s no point in resisting.
I slide in beside her, fire up the engine, and grab my old trucker’s hat from the back seat.
Step three: avoid cameras, don’t be seen.
My focus is slipping as I pull out of the lot and head for the safe house. My mind needs to be one hundred percent on getting us out of here alive. But I can’t stop thinking about what happened.
She was afraid of me. But she kissed me. She wanted me.
Does she regret it now? Now that she sees me as her kidnapper?
No. That can’t be. What happened on the floor of her bedroom was monumental. It was beyond special. It was life-changing for both of us.
She may be pissed at me now, but once she realizes that what I’m doing is for her, she’ll come around. There’s no way I’m letting her go. Not now, not ever.
You’re mine, Annie. You belong to ME!
“Where are you taking me?” she asks. Her soft voice feels misplaced here in my presence, the presence of a killer. In a life-or-death situation. But it calms my nerves slightly.
That shouldn’t happen. I’m a stone cold killer. Flat. Emotionless. But when Annie speaks, something inside me moves. I don’t just want this woman. I need her.
“Somewhere safe,” I reply.
“Safe?” she laughs. “Safe from who?”
“Everyone.”
She glares at me for a long time. I keep my eyes on the road. “Including you?”
“I told you, Annie. I would never hurt you.” She scoffs again. “I’m giving up everything to protect you.”
My phone buzzes. Shit. I should have tossed it already. Annie has me distracted, and that’s not good. I have to keep my mind centered. Attentive.
No body. Where are you?
My fingers dig into my palms as I squeeze my hand into a fist. My blood is pounding, raging through my veins like lava.
“Jesus, that was fast,” I mutter.
“What was fast?” Annie asks.
I power the phone off and chuck it out the window into a ditch. No tracking us now. That will buy us some time.
“They already know I didn’t come through. That means they’ve already got someone at your apartment.”
My stomach sinks as I’m consumed by a terrible thought.
This is your fault.
I know it’s not, but I can’t keep the idea from my mind. Maybe if I hadn’t worked for Jimmy, he wouldn’t have been able to build up his empire as quickly. Then maybe Annie’s dad couldn’t have borrowed money from him, and she wouldn’t be in this mess.
But it was my life choices that led me to her. If I’d been less competent, less ruthless, I never would have met her. I’d still be the cold, hollowed-out shell that I was when I was lying there in the building across the street, aiming my rifle at her window.
“So they sent someone else to my apartment. And?”
My heartbeat feels like a fist trying to pound its way out of my ribs. “And that means you’re more important to my boss than I thought.”
I can feel her eyes on me. She’s not pouting anymore; she’s processing. Like she’s trying to figure something out—figure me out.
Good luck with that one, sweetheart.
“Why are you doing this?” she finally asks. “Your boss is gonna be pissed, you said he’ll send more men to kill me. Won’t he do the same to you?”
“He will.”
“So why are you doing this?” she repeats.
I drag my tongue roughly across my top teeth and swallow hard. This is all foreign to me. I don’t get close to anyone, let alone women. I’ve lived my life alone for so long I never thought it would change. But Annie has a hold on me now that’s so strong it’s like she’s reached into my chest and grabbed my heart.
“I think you know, Annie.”
She pauses. She does know. She just needs to hear me say it.
“No, I don’t, Roman.”
Slowly, I place my hand on her thigh. She trembles slightly but doesn’t push it away. She’s so soft, so warm, so tender.
Finding the words isn’t the hard part. The hard part is saying them.