Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 79020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I brush my teeth, hating the taste of copper in my mouth, and wash my face, but it's the most I can manage right now. I try my best to wipe away some of the blood left on my skin, but my body won't let me twist the way I need it to. I don't doubt the assholes in the other room will just leave me lying on the floor if I fall right now.
I swing the door back open and step into the room.
"I told you to stay away from that woman," Ace says when I step out of the bathroom.
"She's not part of the problem."
"She's the biggest problem you'll ever face," he growls.
Wariness scratches its way up my spine as I glare at him.
"I'm doing my damn job, watching her, trying to get information on Wilkinson."
He looks more annoyed and exasperated than normal.
"It's been weeks, and you have nothing."
"She's not connected to him," I growl.
Anger grows inside of me when Ace lifts his eyes to Jericho.
"What the fuck did you do?"
He remains silent as fire burns through every inch of my body for a different reason.
Only then do I hear a weird tapping noise. If I hadn't spent many days in the house all alone, growing accustomed to every sound it tends to make, then I could probably discount the noise as something else.
"What the fuck is that noise?" I snap, turning to Jericho because getting anything out of Ace seems to be impossible.
"She's not a very quiet prisoner," Jericho mutters. From the look in his eyes, I can tell that this situation wasn't his idea, and there's a very good chance he doesn't approve of it either.
But that doesn't mean he'll be on my side. His choice might've been to eliminate her altogether. Other than his help with Brielle when I was working with Cerberus, he's known for being a heartless bastard.
"Where is she?" I snap.
Ace holds his hands out when I walk closer to the door.
"The doctor said you need to rest. This isn't resting." I ignore him and walk out into the hallway, my ears on high alert.
The tapping is rhythmic as if she knows I'll come looking for her, and I do. I follow the sound down the stairs. Standing in the kitchen brings it closer, but I can tell it's not coming from this level. I pull open the door leading into the basement.
I'm in a flop sweat by the time I make it down the stairs, and my side feels ten times worse than it did the moment I was stabbed at the bar.
The tapping stops suddenly as if she heard something and is now second-guessing getting on someone's nerves.
I flip the lock and tug open the door. Her eyes are alight with terror, and that fear only calms a little when she sees me standing in the doorway.
My heart does its best to calm the way it always does around her, especially now that I know she's safe, but my body is fighting the wound in my side, leaving me with an irregular pulse and enough anger at Ace and Jericho to start a war right here in the mountains of Tennessee.
"Did they hurt you?" I growl.
The smile I normally see on her face is nowhere to be found, and although it used to annoy me, I long for it now.
"Do your friends normally hurt women?"
I don't follow my instinct and tell her they aren't my friends, but that would only conjure more questions that I'm not at liberty to discuss with her.
A tear streaks down her face as she takes a step back.
"Who are you?" she whispers. When I don't answer that question either, I swear I can hear her heart break.
Chapter 24
Zara
The relief that I felt when he was the one to open the door and not one of the other two faded quickly.
I need to be scared of this man. I can't trust a thing he told me, but knowing all of this doesn't stop the confusion swirling around in my head. I'm no one. I'm not anything special. Why would anyone, criminal or not, want to get involved with me? What is it about me that put me on these men's radar?
Whatever I felt for him is ridiculous. It won't keep me safe, and it sure as hell isn't enough for me to look past the point that this man is more than likely a criminal. I wouldn't have tolerated it from Billy if I had discovered him dealing drugs before he was arrested, and I sure as hell wouldn't have turned a blind eye to this man doing it. I was married to Billy. I've only known this man for a few weeks.
He stumbles a little when he steps inside the small room, closing the door behind him. I hate that my first instinct is to reach out and help him. I stare down at my hands when I pull them back to my chest as if they're the damn problem.