Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
The other three Littles sat quietly around the table, waiting patiently. Magnus’s five teammates hovered behind him and Juni. No one spoke.
It was hard to keep up with his Little girl. She worked fast. Texts and phone logs were filling the folders at a rapid pace. Magnus started with the transcripts of phone messages from the last few days. As he opened them, he scanned them quickly and moved on.
Doctor’s appointment reminders…
His lawyer…
Several messages from his wife… Could he pick up milk… Did he know where the broom was after they’d used it to knock down a cobweb last week… What did he want for dinner…
Magnus skipped everything else coming from that number. Finally, something caught his eye. He sucked in a breath as he stumbled upon several messages from Samantha from last night.
“Here.” He pointed at where he was reading on his screen. The guys leaned in around him. Juniper kept working, ignoring him.
“Dad, call me back when you get this message.”
“Dad? Where are you? I can see your location. It shows you at home. Pick up the phone.”
“Dad, please, you’re freaking me out. Mom isn’t answering her phone either. I’m coming over there.”
Magnus turned toward Juniper to find she’d stopped typing to turn her attention toward the screen. She was holding her breath. “I think that’s Sammi,” she finally whispered.
Hawking muttered, “Fuck.”
Magnus jerked his gaze from Juniper to Hawking to find him holding his phone up to his ear.
Hawking started nodding. “Okay, make sure every member of the security team is aware. I’ll be right there.”
Magnus rose. “What happened?” he asked as he scooted his chair back and ran toward the monitors that no one was watching.
Hawking jogged toward the artillery cabinets and opened them while Magnus started flipping through the surveillance footage. Only seconds passed before Hawking spoke again. “There was a small explosion outside the resort grounds. I don’t think it takes a genius to know it’s undoubtedly at one of the outside entrances to the tunnels or caves. We need to explore the location of that explosion, but we also need to get into the tunnel, verify the location of the money, and deal with it before it falls into the wrong hands.”
Magnus spun around quickly when he heard Juniper gasp. Her chair fell backward a moment later at the same time her hand came to her mouth, and she cried out.
His Little was more important than anything, so he raced back to her side to find her staring at the computer screen. She pointed with her free hand, trembling badly as she lowered her fingers from her mouth to speak. “Those are Sammi’s parents.”
Magnus cringed. The screen showed what he assumed was live footage of an older couple bound and gagged to a set of dining room chairs. They looked exhausted and frantic.
“How did you pull that footage, Juniper? Does someone have cameras on them?” Kestrel asked.
Juniper was silently crying as she shook her head. “No, I hacked into their own security system. It’s extensive. They have cameras in all the main rooms. That’s live.” She was shaking violently now, and Magnus wrapped his arms around her as he nodded toward the monitors behind him.
Caesar joined Hawking, and the two men armed themselves while Rocco and Kestrel took over monitoring the situation at Magnus’s station.
Phoenix pulled out his phone. “I’ll call the local authorities and send them to the Markham house.”
Magnus wished he could be six people at once, but he could not. He couldn’t go out and deal with the explosion in person with Caesar and Hawking. He also couldn’t continue digging into the hacked computer information, keep his eyes on the monitors, and ensure his Little girl didn’t fall apart.
Luckily, his brothers understood. They all took over. Rocco suddenly held out a bottle of water, offering it to Juniper.
Juni waved away his offer and drew a breath, squaring her shoulders. “I’m okay. Sorry. I just… I’ve never dealt with anything so scary before.” She turned toward Magnus and gave him a wan smile. “I hack into banks and government vaults, not people’s homes.” She shuddered.
Magnus’s eyes shot open wide. Banks? Vaults?
She rolled her eyes, faced him head-on, and grabbed the front of his shirt. “Not because I’m a criminal, Daddy. I was working for the government. My job was to hack anything I could in order to find weak spots and make things safer.”
Magnus held her close, palming the back of her head to hold her against his chest. He kissed the top of her head before lowering his lips to her ear and whispering so no one else could hear him. “Little girl, do you have any idea how fucking hard my cock is right now?”
She flinched, all the air leaving her lungs.
He kept her head right where he wanted it. “I know we’re dealing with a dire situation, but I want you to know that when this is over, I’m going to fuck you clear into tomorrow, my sexy Little secret keeper.”