Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
I wiped at my hands with one of the towels, then went to Brian and tied his feet up with my tie. I quickly worked my shoes off, removed my socks and used one to tie his hands behind his back. I ripped one of the smaller towels in half and stuffed the material into Brian’s mouth, then used my other sock to gag him so he wouldn’t be able to cry out when he woke up. I wanted to kill the man but I wouldn’t do it in front of Aleks and I couldn’t risk sending him in the hallway by himself to wait for me. But Brian sure as shit wouldn’t be walking the earth long now that I knew who he was. The second I had Aleks safe, I’d find Brian and I’d make him feel everything he’d made Aleks feel and then some.
And I’d enjoy every moment.
I put the pillowcase over Brian’s head and dragged his body to the other side of the bed so that if someone opened the door, they wouldn’t see him right away. My hope was that since I had the code for the door, Tuxedo Man would just assume the room was still in use. And hopefully Aleks, Luca, and I would be long gone before the man who’d been with Brian realized he was missing.
“Do I have any blood on my face?” I asked Aleks.
Aleks was standing frozen by the door, his eyes on the spot where I’d placed Brian’s body.
“Aleks,” I said gently as I went to stand in front of him. I stroked his face. He’d asked me not to touch him earlier, but I figured that request had flown out the window at this point.
“What?” he asked.
“Do I have any blood on my face?” I asked. I had the last towel in my hand to use to clean off whatever obvious blood remained. I was hoping the lighting was dim enough that no one would notice the blood on my suit jacket or the dots of it on my shirt while we went to get Luca.
Aleks finally seemed to snap out of his daze when he looked at me. He took the towel from me and carefully wiped at my forehead, then my nose. “Are you okay?” he asked.
I wanted to laugh at that.
On the one hand I wasn’t okay… not even close.
But on the other, beating the shit out of Brian had felt really good.
I probably should have been bothered by that fact but I really wasn’t.
“I’m good,” I said. “When we get back out there, I need you to play along for just a little while longer, okay?”
Aleks nodded. He looked like he was going to throw up and I didn’t blame him.
“Let’s go,” I said softly. I grabbed his hand only long enough to get him out of the room, then dropped it.
I breathed a sigh of relief when Tuxedo Man barely paid us any attention as we hurried past him. It took less than a minute to get back to Luca. When his eyes met mine as we reached him, I could tell he could see something was up. Aleks went to his side and resumed his position on his knees. The men with Luca were all chatting about something, but my brother ignored them as I leaned over and whispered into his ear, “We need to go. Tell them you and Aleks need some private time.”
He barely reacted other than to nod. Luca stood up and motioned to Aleks, who climbed to his feet but kept his eyes down. He was about to speak to the men surrounding us when a dark-haired man suddenly appeared at Luca’s side. Like me, he had “bodyguard” written all over him.
“Mr. Black, my employer has requested a private meeting with you and your… ward,” the man said as he spared Aleks the briefest of glances.
“Actually, my pet and I were just going to go have some quality time together before the auction,” Luca said.
I knew King and Con were watching everything that was happening through the button on Luca’s jacket, but they wouldn’t have had any idea about Brian. And they probably hadn’t overheard me tell Luca we needed to go. The plan was to tell our brothers what was happening the second we got to the back rooms.
“It will be worth your while, Mr. Black,” the man said. “My employer is of the understanding that you’re considering letting go of your property if the circumstances are acceptable, and my employer has been extremely interested in this particular piece of property for a very, very long time.”
I stiffened at that but managed not to react. God bless him, but Luca managed not to react either.
There was only one man we knew of who’d wanted Aleks for a long time.