Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66454 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66454 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
I try to get the screw loose, pushing my thumb against it and twisting, and when that doesn't work, I try using my nails. But it won't fucking move.
Useless.
I lick my lips and drop the knob into the drawer, not bothering to close it as I take a look around the room.
I need to find something else.
The room is massive. Compared to the dorms and my cramped apartment, it’s ridiculous in size.
I search the room for closets, but there are none. There are two wardrobes that look identical to the left of the room, however.
As I walk toward them to see what’s inside, I nearly trip. A rug I hadn’t noticed before is under my feet. I must have fallen onto it earlier, but I hadn’t noticed. I steady myself and stare at the door, hoping he didn't hear. Minutes pass with no sign of him.
I walk as quietly as I can to the wardrobes, and pray there’s something in there I can use against him.
It doesn’t take long for me to get there and find the first one empty. Hope dwindles inside of me, but I have to try the other. With shaky hands, I open the second wardrobe and I find the same. Empty. The feeling of defeat washes over me. That leaves only one other thing to try, and I shouldn't even be getting my hopes up.
I look to the door to the room, and pray it’s unlocked. What are the odds he would be so foolish?
And if it isn't locked, maybe he’s waiting for me. Maybe it’s a test.
Either way, I have to try. I won’t stay here and make this easy on him. I can’t. I need to get the fuck out of here. That’s the only truth I need to hold on to.
Kade
The ice clinks in my glass as I lift it off the coffee table. The fire across the room roars and crackles. Those are the only noises in the room, but the noises I'm hearing are different. I can't stop hearing James' last words. The bang of my gun. Over and over, the sounds won’t stop.
Criminal. It was our code word. I keep hearing him say it. We chose that word together, but I’d hoped neither of us would ever have to say it.
“You really going to make me say it again?” My heart twists in my chest as I hear James’ words over and over in my mind. I knew this was a possibility when we signed up for this. We both did. It was only supposed to be months, but it turned into years. But if either of us ever had to say that word, I was hoping it’d be me. Not James.
My official record lists thirty-eight confirmed kills overseas. And he had twenty-six. We were something else, so fucking good the government came to us with an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. One last job, and we'd earn enough cash we could live off it forever.
We were ready to go in, excited even. It sucked having to go in separate, but it made sense.
Fucking Ricky Stone was harder to crack than they said he’d be. He’s a hotheaded fuck, but he still hasn’t shown his cards.
Two years ago, one of the biggest sex trafficking trades went down, but neither of us found out about it until it had passed even though we were supposed to be in on it. We--I can’t seem to get close enough.
I front the money for the cartel, I’m their largest investor. My fake background has me passing myself off as an ex-con. As far as they know, I served time for money laundering, and the connections I made in prison led to my current interest in dealing in women. That's how the cartel found me, actually. Buying women. Of course the women all went free and are now safe and recovering. But they think I killed them when I was done.
That’s what the cartel does. It’s what's expected.
Ricky and Vic are sick fucks; they’re behind the biggest and most profitable sex slave and drug trafficking rings across the globe. From the United States, to Thailand, and plenty of places in between.
I was so close to getting more information about Ricky’s informants and business partners overseas. Or at least the locations where they store the women.
I wonder what James found out. I wonder what he did that tipped them off. Tears prick my eyes and I slam the glass down. Fuck!
And she saw. Olivia. She saw me kill him. It’s against protocol to do anything illegal when you’re undercover. Every action has to be approved first, which is bullshit, and everyone knows it. Even though James told me to kill him, they can’t find out. If she went to the police and told them, they’d pull me out in a heartbeat. If she got out and told, this entire operation would be a wash. Years of hard work would be gone, just like that. I could live with that. But my best friend’s death would be for nothing. I can’t let that happen to James.