Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Yes, I’d make him pay. But now was not the time.
Think... I had to fucking think.
Piper was in Stone’s hands.
His hands were likely all over her, his lips on her skin.
I sent a vase smashing against the wall as if destroying something so meaningless would take the edge off the fury practically blinding me.
I eyed the shards and craved the feel of them cutting into my skin, the relief of some pain, subduing the buildup of poison barreling through me.
But that wouldn’t help. Not then.
Piper was no longer at the restaurant. I knew Stone well enough to know that he’d taken her to his residence outside of New York. Because he was smart. Because he expected me to come for her, and he had every inch of that property surveilled. He would’ve scented me from five miles away if I hastily tried to approach it.
And he’d kill Piper. Of that I was certain. He wouldn’t wait for me to come to make a big production out of it. He’d do it, then he’d wait for me to come upon her lifeless body, watching in satisfaction as I crumbled before his eyes.
There was no way for me to get to her. Not immediately anyway.
That meant she was alone. Alone with him and his whims and cruelty.
The simple thought had panic, sheer, unbridled panic hurtling through my heart.
She’d been alone with me and survived it, I reminded myself.
I must’ve had something foreign in my blood to believe she’d survive him.
Yet I had to have faith. Not in some obscure deity created by man in order to control women. I had faith in Piper.
But nonetheless, I was completely fucking powerless.
I wanted to reduce the world to ashes to protect her, to save her, but all I could do at that point was trust she had the flame inside of her to do it herself.
Piper
I didn’t change for dinner. There was nothing for me to change into. Was that another sign of Stone’s temporary plans for me? No clothes or personal affects because I wouldn’t be alive to need to brush my teeth or change my panties?
That only served to motivate me in my mission even more. Kill one of the most dangerous men I’d ever encountered when I didn’t even believe in killing or eating animals. Though I was a vegetarian, appalled at even the thought of helpless animal blood, the blood of men, on the other hand… I could admit I was a little thirsty for it.
I’d spent hours in that room, thinking, stewing. Gazing upon the beautiful vista yet seeing nothing but the woods of Appalachia. I’d spent my hours there, combing over every memory I made with Knox, using it to fortify myself, to build me up.
When the hand on the clock read five minutes to six, I went to my door. I’d been expecting someone to come to escort me, but no one came, and nobody was waiting outside when I opened the unlocked door. I peered down the long hallway. Sense of direction wasn’t my strong suit when it came to mansions. I knew my way around Manhattan and the woods of Appalachia, but not there.
My stomach turned at the memory of a cabin thousands of miles away, half a world away, forgotten by anyone but me and Knox.
With great effort, I pushed him out of my mind, turning left from the bedroom then walking in the general direction I’d come from. Because I wasn’t practiced at being an assassin—if that’s what I was—I hadn’t taken in the layout of this huge house beyond appreciating the Mediterranean furnishings. Rookie mistake.
After a few wrong turns, I found myself in an opulent dining room complete with oil paintings and an outrageously-long table that could’ve comfortably sat twelve people.
The room was bathed in soft candlelight, and the figure sitting at the end of the table was an imposing shadow, coming into focus once I’d traversed the length of the table, doing my best not to limp. I made a mental note to give Elizabeth a tongue lashing for her choice in footwear for my task.
That was if I survived it.
“Piper, you found the dining room.” Stone’s smile was warm as he stood to pull out my chair. He glanced at his watch. “Two minutes late, but we’ll address that later.” Cold promise threaded into his tone, and I restrained a shudder.
I wondered if it was a game. All of it. Leaving me in the room without guards, letting me roam about freely. If this was something he did on the regular, a hobby for the man who didn’t like golf—terrorizing women. It made sense. It was a pastime enjoyed by powerful men for centuries.
Despite my hatred for the man, I kept my expression docile, let him pull out the chair, didn’t squirm when he brushed hair from the nape of my neck and inhaled.