Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
As long as she’s safe, I’ll die happy.
She’s my only concern now. Her safety is all I care about.
My mate is in trouble and my protective instincts have taken over.
I just hope I’m not too late…
Chapter Two
Chloe
I’m choking on the thick smoke as I kick the wooden leg of my desk over and over again, but the stubborn thing refuses to break. My wrist is slick with blood and stinging like crazy as the metal handcuffs dig into my skin.
Come on!
I can feel the heat of the hungry flames from the other room as they spread toward me, stalking me as they get ready to feast on my flesh.
You’re not dying like this. Come on, Chloe!
I give the thick oak desk leg a few more kicks, but it’s useless. Nothing can kick through that strong wood.
My eyes are watering down my cheeks and I can’t even open them as the thick gray smoke billows in through the open door.
My resolve begins to fade as I force my eyes open and see the flames in the other room. They’re traveling up the file cabinets that I was sorting through this morning and burning the files inside.
I guess I know now what I always suspected: Kirk Holdings Incorporated is a criminal organization.
The first time I suspected it was a few weeks ago when my boss, Aylwin Kirk, came walking into the office with a garbage bag full of loose bills. I was his personal secretary and I just pretended that what I saw was normal.
Why didn’t I leave then?
I keep asking myself that question, but I know the answer. I had nowhere else to go. I’m only nineteen and I’ve already been on my own for two years.
Mr. Kirk paid well and I often turned a blind eye for that life-changing money. For most people, the paycheck wouldn’t be life-changing, but for me it was. It was the difference between sleeping at a bus stop after my stepfather kicked me out and sleeping in a bed. I chose a bed. And this is where it got me.
Yesterday, the FBI came to visit when Mr. Kirk was away on business. They began asking me and some other employees questions about some missing cargo ships in the China sea. I had no idea what they were talking about, but Mr. Kirk seemed pretty agitated when I called him on the phone to tell him after.
I came into work early today like I always do and was surprised to see Mr. Kirk tearing up his office. It looked like a tornado had ripped through it.
“I thought you were in Hong Kong,” I said to him as I put my coffee on my desk.
He looked on edge as he raced around his office, pulling out files and throwing them onto his desk.
“Something more important came up,” he said as he grabbed his laptop and broke it over his knee. I stared in shock as he tossed the pieces onto the floor.
“Anything I can help you with?”
His body stilled as he slowly turned to me. A shiver raced up my spine as his hard eyes locked onto mine. His eyes were normally bright green, but this morning they seemed to be glowing.
I took a step back as he grinned.
“Yes, actually. You can.”
He leapt forward in a blur and grabbed my arm. I screamed and tried to yank it back, but his grip was unbreakable. He was incredibly strong.
Before I knew what was happening, he pulled me to the ground and handcuffed my wrist to the heavy desk.
“What are you doing?” I asked him as I stared at the metal chain in shock.
He just shrugged, like I wasn’t even worth an explanation. “You know too much, Chloe.” Without another word, he left and ran downstairs. A few minutes later, I started to smell the smoke.
My eyes are watering, but I’m forcing them open so I can keep an eye on the approaching flames. They start to spread along the cheap carpet as I kick the desk leg again and again, each strike gets weaker and weaker.
I’m just about to give up when I hear a siren in the distance.
Yes!
But the building is already in flames. It’s going to take the firemen at least a few minutes to get here, park, set-up, and then come in. And I don’t have a few minutes. By the time they get here, if they even enter the building, I’ll be nothing but a pile of ash.
A pile of ash that accomplished nothing in her life. That was tossed out of her house by her alcoholic mother and her druggie boyfriend. That never finished school. That has no friends. That has never had a boyfriend. Never been loved. Never even been kissed.
I’m going to die a virgin, having never felt the warm skin of a man pressed against mine or felt the loving protective feel of strong arms wrapped around me.