Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Alexei jumped to his feet, his hands tightening on the back of the chair until his knuckles turned white. “Fuck you! I gave you my word. I’m not trying to fucking kill you. I’m trying to save your ungrateful ass. If you’re so worried about the money, I’ll pay you ten million for the stupid thing. I want you out of Paris and the heat off you.”
There were no words. He could only stare at Alexei, speechless. The idea that he had ten million to throw away like that was staggering to begin with, but what he was proposing to do was also mind-blowing. If he had the hard drive, the heat would potentially shift from him to Alexei. He would become the target. His life would be in danger.
Shaking his head, Soren tried to pull apart the unexpected knot of emotions in his chest, but he couldn’t. “While I appreciate it, this isn’t a plan.”
“Yes, it is,” Alexei grumbled, dropping into his chair.
“It’s not the money.” Soren stopped himself and realized how stupid that statement was. “Okay, it’s not just the money, because for me that’s a lot of fucking money. And I don’t want to know how you got your hands on that kind of money.”
Alexei made a gun with his finger and thumb, pointed it at Soren, and gave a “pew pew” sound that left him rolling his eyes.
“How old are you again?”
“Twenty-three,” Alexei admitted with a wide grin.
“Fuck, I feel old now. What the hell was I saying?”
“That you’re doing exactly as I say, giving me the hard drive and leaving town on the next plane out.”
Soren scrubbed a hand over his face. Yes, he definitely needed to pull his shit together. “No. Even if I give you the hard drive, the contract is still on my head. Someone is going to be out there trying to kill me. And second, if you have the hard drive, how do you know that someone won’t be trying to kill you for the hard drive? We’re safer if we stick together. We watch each other’s backs.”
“Once I have the hard drive, I’ll have my handler talk to the person who issued the contract. I’ll get it taken off your head. You’ll be safe.”
“And what about you? Are you going to hand over the hard drive to this asshole who’s trying to kill me?”
“I don’t know. My handler is digging into this person. I want to know who’s getting this thing. I also kind of what to know what’s on the damn thing that has so many people worked up.”
“And what? You announce to the world, ‘Lookie, lookie! Alexei’s got a cookie!’ while waving the hard drive about?” Soren said as he waved his hand around in the air as if he were holding the item in question.
“God.” Alexei sighed. “It’s a good thing you’ve got such a great fucking ass, because you’re a mean bastard.”
“Alexei—”
“Soren,” Alexei snapped in the same exasperated tone, “don’t take that condescending tone with me. I don’t give a shit that you’re ten or twenty years older than me. This isn’t my first dance. I’ve had people wanting to kill me for most of my life. Well before I chose this profession. I know how to take care of myself, and it’s a hell of a lot easier to do that if I’m not worried about you getting shanked the second I look the other way.”
So. Many. Questions.
He knew better than to poke into a person’s past. There was a lot of stuff he didn’t want anyone to know about, but when he’d met Alexei, he’d seemed like such a carefree and maybe even careless person. There was so much more. A dark and clearly painful past that he kept buried under this happy-go-lucky, untouchable façade. Glimpses of the truth had poked through, and he wanted more.
Alexei shoved out of the chair and paced to the opposite side of the room. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a big room. He didn’t have far that he could go until he was forced to turn around. The dichotomy of playful and deadly was so fucking sexy. He’d never met anyone quite like Alexei. The playful side of the deadly people he’d known was too often mixed with the psychotic, but Alexei seemed to be nicely balanced. His joy rarely appeared to be tainted by the darkness of his past.
Of course, that rareness only made him sparkle brighter in Soren’s eyes. Yep, he was pretty sure he was going to have to keep him. But he’d have to move slowly, carefully. Acquiring Alexei might be his greatest theft of all, and possibly his trickiest. The only thing he knew was that he was not leaving Paris without the assassin.
“No. I’m not leaving.”
“What?”
“I’ll give you the hard drive if it means you can get at least one of the contracts off my head, but I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving you in danger even if you’ve got everything under control. I’m not leaving.”