Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 72284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“Miss me already?” I say, looking up at her window, and when I see her standing there, I add, “You should be in bed resting.”
“I want to come home,” she says quietly. “I want to feel you beside me when I fall asleep.”
I want that, too, zayka.
She has no idea how much.
“I’ll make the arrangements for you to come home tomorrow,” I say. “But tonight, you’re safe here.”
“You promise?”
As well as the two men posted outside her hospital room door, I have another two in the foyer and two patrolling the perimeter of the hospital. And once I’ve finished rolling the dice on Vlad’s demise, I will be back here myself to sit with her until she is discharged. Sleep be damned.
I start walking toward the car in the parking lot.
“Lev?”
I pause again to look up at her. “Yes, zayka?”
“Goodnight.”
I smile into the phone. “Goodnight, my love.”
Boom.
The explosion rips into the night and knocks me off my feet, sending me backward into the flowerbeds. Only yards away, the Phantom is blown apart by a fiery eruption, and parts of it rain down from above. Flames bellow into the sky and then quickly drop back to the ground.
I struggle to get up but am rocked backward by a lightning bolt of pain shooting through my skull. A loud ringing in my ears muffles the noise of the outside world, and the metallic tang of blood invades my mouth.
Lying on my back and unable to move, I look up toward Brooke’s window and can see her there. Her face is twisted in fear and panic as she bangs on the glass, calling for me.
My love.
They’re coming for her. But I can’t get to her. The ringing in my ears grows louder. My body feels heavy, like wet concrete.
And my world goes black.