Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
He cupped her hand. “I promise I won’t put you in danger. You’re my family. It’s something I’ve got to work out for myself, but I won’t let my feelings override my common sense.”
Her eyes searched his. After a short while, she gave a curt nod. “I trust you. I won’t say anything to Cain.”
“Thanks. Much appreciated.”
She squeezed his arm and let go. “How about mixing us both a cocktail?”
“We’re on the job. Besides, you know my cocktail mixing skills suck. You should ask Sean.”
“Already did.” She winked. “He said more or less the same thing about being on duty.”
Cain walked into the kitchen, cutting their banter short. “That was Alice on the phone. She says hello. How did it go, Bono?”
He shot Maya a quick look, but her expression was blank. For a nerve-wracking moment, he thought about what they said about Cain. Could he really read minds? Nah. Impossible. Some of the tenseness left his shoulders.
“Slow progress,” he said, “but determination is not my strongest trait for nothing.”
“Why are we meeting here?” Doumar asked in a disgruntled voice.
Sky sat across from him next to Godfrey in the back of a Limo. Godfrey’s driver had taken the road to Haarlem, and they were driving around the countryside.
“Precaution. Jones will be watching the club. I don’t want him to know I’m in Amsterdam. When I strike, it has to come as a complete surprise.”
“What is this Jones to you anyway?”
“An old enemy.” He turned to Sky. “Did you find out anything last night?”
Doumar gave her a warning look that said not to mention his interruption.
“That Bono is an excellent shot.”
“How did you figure that out?” Doumar asked, not quite hiding the bite in his tone.
“I took him to the amusement park. He hit every target in the shooting game.”
“Amusing,” Godfrey said, “but hardly worthwhile. Did he carry a weapon?”
“I didn’t get to search him, but none that I could see.”
“I take it you didn’t get naked because someone interrupted your work, your most valuable work that will cost your son’s life should you not succeed.”
Doumar blanched under Godfrey’s pointed stare.
Turning his attention on Doumar, Godfrey continued, “I suspect my message of yesterday hasn’t been clear enough.”
The laugh Doumar forced didn’t sound convincing. “I got it, no worries.”
“Did you?” Godfrey crossed his wrists over his knees. “Then tell me, just so we’re clear.”
“You’re the boss.”
“I own you, and therefore I own everything that belongs to you, including her.” Godfrey jammed a finger in her direction. “If I tell her to fuck Mr. Black and the whole of Cain Jones’s army, I expect her to obey and for you not to stand in her way.”
Doumar worked his jaw, but he kept his mouth shut.
The car came to an abrupt halt.
“What are you doing?” Doumar asked, looking nervously through the tainted window.
A second later, the door on Doumar’s side opened. A man with a balaclava pointed a gun at him.
“Get out,” Godfrey said.
“Whoa.” Doumar lifted his hands. “I was drunk, man. It won’t happen again.”
At Godfrey’s slight nod, the masked man pulled Doumar from the car. Two more armed men waited to pat him down. Sky watched with growing dread. If they killed Doumar, Niels might be lost to her forever. Doumar looked around with staccato movements of his head. From her side of the car, she saw three bulky, masked men standing a short distance away in the tall grass.
“Take him over there,” one of the armed men said. “Strip him, and hold him down.”
Sky went cold as she understood Doumar’s fate.
Doumar started struggling for his life as the three men stepped up and grabbed his arms and legs. “No!”
“You can scream all you want,” Godfrey said. “No one will hear you here.” He nodded at the man who stood next to his door. “Bring him back when you’re done, and make sure he feels like a whore who disobeyed.”
“With pleasure,” the man said with a sadistic grin. “You sure you don’t want me to kill him?”
“I still need him.”
The others had pushed Doumar to the ground. She could no longer see him through the grass. The door closed on the sound of Doumar’s begging, and then the car started moving again.
She’d been taken against her will and with violence plenty of times, but only by Doumar. What awaited him was a cruel gang rape, and even if she hated her owner with every fiber of her being, she couldn’t wish him that kind of fate, not when she remembered with startling clarity what it felt like.
“Please.” She clasped her hands together so Godfrey wouldn’t see them trembling. “He’s just jealous. He didn’t mean to.”
“You should’ve told me Doumar crashed your party. How should I punish you for hiding the truth?”
Just like that, he turned the tables on her. She bit down on her tongue to stop her teeth from chattering. Her whole body had broken out in a cold sweat. If he wanted, Godfrey could hurt her worse than Doumar ever did. Better the devil you know.