Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
I turn, terrified of what I’ll see. But when I look, he’s merely sitting in a chair with his ankle crossed on his knee. Ilya sits beside him, cuffed and gagged, but his eyes are furious, his face red, and I notice with sickening realization that a clumsy, blood-soaked bandage covers one hand.
They use thumbprint recognition to gain access to the compound.
Bile rises in my stomach.
Andros used Ilya to get in here. Literally.
“This is your fault, you know,” he says, shaking his head. “All these innocent people hurt because you left me.”
“You’re sick,” I say, looking around the cellar for something to use as a weapon, but what do I possibly have? “I was never yours and I never will be.”
“Ilya’s maimed now because of you and will likely be struck from service to his Bratva for betrayal.” He shakes his head. “This poor girl put up a good fight before she caved and agreed to call you. She was the one who told me you’d run here, and you did. Just like a little rabbit to a trap.” He grins and it sickens me. “And the man you call husband? He will pay for touching my woman.”
“He will kill you,” I say, my voice wavering.
“Why would they do that? They’ll never even know I was here, because you’re coming with me.”
“Never!”
He smiles. “You’ll stay with a worthless man who cheated on you?”
“How do you—”
Then I know. He orchestrated this. I don’t know the truth behind what I saw, but I know he set me up. He set us all up. I don’t know how or why, but I know now that I shouldn’t have run from Tomas.
Andros stands. I forgot how tall and menacing he is, and I hate that my body responds instinctively in fear. I recoil, wanting to draw my hands up over my head to hide from him.
“My husband didn’t cheat on me,” I say through gritted teeth. “You set him up, didn’t you? How far did you go to do it, Andros?”
He grins. “You’re so pathetically attached to the asshole, I had to take drastic measures to get you apart,” he says with a shrug. “It was an easy matter to pay the whore to do it.” He suddenly grows furious, the smile fading from his face and his eyes wide with anger. “But you know what that’s like, don’t you?” He steps closer to me and reaches for me. I smack his hand away, and he backhands me so quickly my head snaps back and I lose my balance. Gripping the back of my head by the hair, he yanks me to him. “You know what it’s like to be a fucking whore.”
I kick at him, but he’s too big, too strong, and I can’t get away. I don’t say a word, biding my time until an opportunity comes to defend myself. I can’t call to Tomas in the cellar. He might not hear me, and he wouldn’t be able to get to me in time. I have to wait until we’re on level ground again.
I change my tact.
Andros is a psychopath. I need to play this differently. And the one good thing I have going is that Andros is on our battlefield. Tomas has been hunting him. Now he’s here. Andros is sick enough that his anger could cloud his judgment.
“I’m sorry, Andros,” I say. “I never should have left you.”
“That’s right, you fucking whore,” he says, yanking me by the hair again. “I thought anyone would see that you weren’t worth it. I guess I was fucking wrong. But now that I have you back, you’ll never leave again.”
“You’re right,” I say, giving him exactly what he wants. “I belong with you.” I’m physically sick playing this part. But I have to play this safely.
“We’ll keep these two down here,” he says. “Useless pawns. Come.”
He drags me up the stairs, and I scream when he yanks my hair. “Scream again and I’ll cut out your fucking tongue,” he says. I shake. He would.
We get to the area just outside the compound. I can see a car approaching us and realize suddenly that it’s his car. But Tomas leads an army, and there’s no way Andros has silenced all of them.
I look wildly around for a weapon, and finally see a large gardening hoe leaning against the cellar door. My heart skips a crazy beat. Maybe I can use it. I pretend to stumble, taking him closer to it, and when we get near enough, I brace myself for the pain that will come when I yank my head away from him. With a deep breath, I fall to my knees.
My hair rips from my scalp and Andros screams in rage, but I’m louder.
“Tomas!” I shout as loudly as I can. “Tomas! Someone help me!”