Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“Easy, brother.” Shep kept his voice steady as he said, “We don’t know that she’s hurt.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Look at her!” I motioned my hand toward the screen. “To hell with this. I’m going in.”
Grim caught my arm before I could move. “Wait.”
“Wait?” I jerked free. “She’s fucking hanging there, Grim! She—”
Then Rooks' voice cut through the feed, “What the hell is this?”
“This is what happens when you try to play games with me.” Rooks turned slightly, and the camera caught the man standing just a few feet away. “I don’t play games, Mr. Warren. I simply do not have the patience for it.”
“I’ll give you whatever you want. Just let her go,” Rooks pleaded.
“She’s fine.” The man glanced over at Tallie. “I did this for her benefit.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Imagine how terrified she would be if she was awake when I had her hung from the rafter.”
“Why the hell did you have to hang her from the rafters in the first place?”
“Because if you don’t give me what I want, this will end badly for you both. I like her. I wouldn’t want her to suffer.” His face was void of expression as he growled, “You, on the other hand.”
“Understood.”
My eyes were still locked on the screen as I told them, “That’s gotta be Sergei. He’s the one in charge.”
“I was thinking the same,” Shep agreed. “And yeah, he’s clearly running the show.”
The guy looked calm, but not in a good way. His calm made my skin crawl. His eyes were cold and showed zero emotion as he said, “Do you have the code?”
“I don’t know about a code. I have everything that I set up for my father, including all the offshore accounts and passwords.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Sergei glared at him for a moment, then pushed, “Where the hell are they?”
“On the computer.” Rooks motioned his head toward the back of the room. “Your guard took it from me.”
Sergei snapped his fingers, and the guard brought over the laptop. Sergei snatched it and handed it over to Rooks. “You better make it fast. We don’t want the girl to wake up and wonder why her brother caused her to be in such a state.”
“I didn’t…”
Rooks stopped himself from saying something he would regret and turned his focus to the laptop. He opened it and immediately started typing. We could see the various accounts and all the money held within them, and it wasn’t just a couple hundred thousand. It was millions. Now, I got why Sergio had gone to such lengths to get it back.
Rooks turned the screen to face Sergei as he announced, “Okay. Here it is.”
“It’s all there?”
“Every penny. It’s just like you left it. I just need to know what you want to do with it.”
“I want it to stay right where it is.” He turned to one of the guards and motioned his head toward Tallie. “Get her down.”
“So, that’s it? That’s all you wanted?”
“Yes, and you would’ve known that had you answered any of my calls or emails.” I could see them lowering Tallie’s arms, and I was so focused on trying to make sure that she was okay that I almost missed it when he said, “I must say, I found it rather odd that you were avoiding me.”
“You killed my father. What did you expect me to do?”
“You know I didn’t kill him.”
“And how would I know that?”
“Because you were behind it.” Sergei’s face was stone cold. No emotion. No anger. No annoyance. Just cold and matter of fact. “And don’t waste my time by trying to deny it.”
“I wasn’t even in the country when he was killed.”
“Hmm, there you go running in circles again. I told you I didn’t have patience for games.” Sergei gave a quick chin lift, and one of the guards rushed Rooks, securing his arms behind him. “I never said you killed him. I said you were behind it.”
“But I had no reason to kill him.”
“Ah, I’d say you had about four million reasons.”
“I have my own money. I have no reason to try and take his, or yours, for that matter.”
“You’re right. You did have your own money until you lost it all trying to launch your own company.” Sergei shook his head with disgust. “Your father tried to warn you that it would never work, but you wouldn’t listen. And when he wouldn’t bail you out, you killed him.”
“Dad was a lying asshole! He deserved what he got,” Rooks roared. “But that doesn’t mean I had anything to do with his murder.”
“Enough running in circles again. It’s one thing to try and steal from your father.” Sergei leaned in close, “It’s another to try and steal from me.”
“But I didn’t. I wouldn’t.”
“But you did, and now, you will pay.”