Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
The helicopter lifted.
I caught my breath for a moment to mumble, “Sorry for yelling at you, Thomas. You did a good job.”
He replied, but I had no idea what he’d said, because all of my attention shifted to my tesoro as she wrapped her arms around me so tight, buried her face into my chest, and cried, “He killed Troy.”
My body stiffened under her. “What?”
“He killed him,” she cried.
We rose higher into the air and I held her close to me. “Troy?”
“He’s gone.”
My heart broke. How the hell had Troy, her brother, somehow seeped into my chest? How did he make me care? How did he want me to take revenge out on his death? Just like Jasmine, somehow, he’d snuck into me, and made me love him.
“No.” My body shook.
“He’s gone.”
I held her closer to me. “I wish I’d put a goddamned bomb into the building to blow his body into bits of sand.”
And she cried in my arms the rest of the helicopter ride.
Chapter 24
Jasmine
Besides the slicing of helicopter blades in the night sky, silence filled the rest of the ride.
Chase held me and I didn’t think he would let me go anytime soon. Every tear that fell from my eyes, he kissed away. Each cry of sadness, he muffled with his mouth on mine. Anytime I tried to mumble some sad word, he whispered he loved me, over and over in my ears.
“You’re safe now, tesoro. I love you.”
No woman should be this lucky. I’d lost my brother, underwent anxiety from Benny, and had to ready myself to face even more possibilities ahead. Yet, this man had organized a small army and saved me.
His phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered, “What?”
A few seconds passed.
“And his body?”
My heart boomed in my chest.
“I don’t pay you to think,” Chase said. “I pay you to know. I want evidence that’s he’s dead, not a fucking percentage of possibilities.”
Chase slung the phone on the helicopter’s floor and returned to me.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“One of my men. There are a lot of bodies in the doss house. They’re checking for Benny’s.”
I froze. “But is he dead?”
“It’s going to be okay.” He placed his hands on the side of my head and stared into my eyes. “Whatever happens now, we’ll face together. Don’t you ever leave me like that. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“I almost went crazy.”
“Okay.”
“Vivian is at the hotel. Once I realized Benny and you were at the tour, I had a team go in to take over that mansion.”
“How did you find it?”
“I had infrared light scans all over the documented vacant mansions on Bishop’s Avenue. His was the only abandoned one that showed people inside.” He frowned and looked away for a second. “Tesoro, I’m ... I’m sorry about Troy.”
Water glazed over my eyes, but I forced myself to not let anymore tears fall.
“I liked him,” Chase said. “He was an amazing man. He was a good brother to you. I really liked him, and I’m so sorry that you had to deal with this.”
“I’m okay—”
“No.” He shook his head. “No, you’re not, and you won’t be okay for a while. I know death. I know what it does to a person. When I lost my mother, it crushed me for a very long time. In the end, it was probably why I went on my ignorant path of possessing women. Either way, I’m here for you. Every moment of the day, I’ll be here. If you need to cry, do it. If you need to yell, do it. Just understand that I’m never going to leave your side.”
“Okay.”
“Never.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Good. You need to be scared.” He wrapped his arms back around me. “You need to understand that I won’t ever let you free.”
I hugged him back. “Good.”
“With death, there is only moments. That’s the way you heal. People say to take it day-by-day. I disagree. You have to take it minute-by-minute. No more. No less. Just think about each minute in front of you, and the task for that minute, and keep pushing on.”
“Okay.”
“What do you have to do for the next minute?”
“Hold you,” I whispered.
“Hmmm. I think that’s a beautiful task.” He landed kisses on my neck and with every few, he nipped at my skin as if he yearned to devour me in that helicopter.
And then a dark thought came to me, I pulled out of his arms and leaned away. “Where’s my mother?”
“No.” He wagged his finger. “That’s not your task for the next minute.”
“Where is my mother?”
“You’re not Goddess of the Day. You lost several of those days, when you ran off. Now you owe me some days.”
“Chase, I’m not playing.”
“Neither, am I.”
I climbed out of his arms and he lifted the side of his lip into a sneer.
“Must we talk about Sophia now?” he asked.