Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“You’re on your own from here,” Lukyan said. “We won’t be waiting in the wings to save the day. It’s not my job.”
It was uniquely terrifying to know I was on my own and that Lukyan wasn’t fashioning himself into some kind of hero. It was me. Only me.
“Thank you,” I nodded. “For taking me this far.” I looked at Elizabeth. “For everything.”
She smiled and reached over to squeeze my hand. “You can do this.” Her words expressed a faith she shouldn’t have had, barely knowing me. “Do whatever it takes to hold on to what is yours.” Her gaze touched Lukyan before traveling back to me. “It’s worth it. And humanity is overrated.”
That was it. That was my invitation to leave and go forth with no one at my back. I stayed frozen for just a second before I opened the door and hopped out onto the New York street.
The car quickly left the curb, the noises of the city creating a muted roar in my ears, before going completely quiet, as if I were in the center of a tornado. My brain went still too.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the calm and into the storm—wearing wildly-impractical shoes.
Twenty-Two
Knox
Ihad planned for every eventuality.
As well as one could in a situation like that—with as many moving parts as there were. There were a lot of elements outside of my control. But I felt confident I could handle it.
I’d spent the majority of my life preparing for a moment like that. Every second I was in Stone’s employ, I’d been watching. Learning. Prodding weak spots, understanding the structure of the hierarchy. Cutting the head off the snake would ensure there was chaos for a time, but the serpent would grow a new head eventually. My goal was to create the most chaos possible. And the person who became the new don would have a lot to deal with before they even thought to try to pursue me. That’s if they were stupid. If they were smart, they’d know to thank me or leave me alone lest Stone’s fate befall them.
Though I was realistic, I understood that even I might not have the skills or stamina to be successful in my mission. But I had the cold determination of knowing that I had to be successful in my mission in order to keep my woman safe.
I’d happily bleed out if I knew that my death meant keeping her safe.
I’d already put plans in place if I wasn’t successful. A bank account with more than enough money for a lifetime, new identities for her and Daisy, a way out of the country if she wanted or somewhere to disappear to if needed. All of my holdings would move to her name, except a considerable sum to be put in a trust for Mabel.
I didn’t think that it would go that far since I was confident I would at the very least kill Stone. There was no way I’d submit to death if the man who had caused my woman pain and suffering was still bleeding.
I’d considered a lot of different options for how I’d go about my task. Maybe the smartest one was to stick to the shadows, wait until he was alone in bed then just put a bullet in his brain. Clean. Safer. No witnesses.
But that wasn’t what the hungry sadist inside of me wanted. In my fury, I’d let myself become a victim of my own ego. Not only did I want to kill him, I wanted to do it where he felt safe. When he felt like he’d won.
And I knew that he was stupid enough to not order me to be killed on sight. As if his soldiers possessed the skill to kill me in the first place.
He likely expected some surprise attack, knowing that I wasn’t dead. He’d upped his personal guard. He was scared. Oh, how I relished that.
What he expected was the attack in the night. Because that’s what he would‘ve done. He’d wait until his prey was at their weakest.
I wanted them at their strongest, to show them just how helpless they were.
So I walked in the front door.
I let them divest me of my weapons—I didn’t need them—reveling in the unease of the heavily armed men watching me sideways as if they expected me to set off a bomb at any moment.
They were inconsequential to me. Little more than flies buzzing around my face. Swatting them wasn’t worth the energy I’d expend.
Stone didn’t stand as I entered the room, merely looked up with what could only be described as a shit-eating grin on his face. It took me seconds to understand why, eventually seeing what he had mounted behind him, for every single person to see when they walked into the room.