Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Pressing my hand to her lower back, I begin leading her back toward my men when Cristian breaks off from the crowd and meets me in the middle. “Do you have the headshots of Ezekiel’s men?”
Cristian nods and pulls out his phone. He brings up the files we need and hands me the phone. I scroll through the images as Chiara looks on. “Tell me when you see them,” I instruct.
She nods, and as I continue flipping, she watches like a hawk. “Stop,” she finally says. “Go back one.”
I do as asked and a hollowness appears in her eyes as she simply stares at him. “That’s one of them,” she murmurs before reaching out and flipping through the images herself. Another moment passes before she pauses again. “That’s the other.”
I nod and pull the phone away, not wanting her to have to look at them a second longer than necessary. Handing the phone back to Cristian, I give him my instructions. “Everyone apart from Ezekiel and these two men will be slaughtered. Those three will be returning with me.”
“Yes, boss. Anything else?” he asks as I slip my suit jacket off and help Chiara into it to offer her just a little bit of dignity.
“No, we’re good to get started.”
“Wait,” Chiara rushes out in a panic. “What about the other girls in there? There’s a few of them. They don’t deserve this. They’re just innocent girls like me who were snatched off the street. We need to save them. Please, Killian. Let me save them. We can offer them a new life where they won’t have to fear for their safety and face men like this ever again.”
“Okay,” I tell her, nodding at Cristian who immediately starts giving orders. “We’ll make the girls a priority.”
Chiara nods and sucks in a deep breath, giving herself a moment to mentally prepare to go back in there. “Alright, then let’s do it.”
“You sure, Angel? You don’t need to witness this. It won’t be pretty,” I warn her. “The things you see will pale in comparison to what you’ve already been through, and I guarantee, I will bring these motherfuckers home for you. You will get your justice at your own leisure.”
“I’m going in,” she tells me with defiance in her tone. “I need to see this.”
She holds my stare for a moment longer, and as I see the true hunger in her exhausted gaze, I finally nod. “Okay, Chiara. You stand at my side the whole time. When I tell you to move, you move. If I tell you to run, you run. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” I finally agree. “Then let’s do it.”
Moving over to the trunk of my SUV, I find a small handgun, and after checking it’s properly loaded, I press it into Chiara’s hand. “Do you know how to use this?”
“Point and shoot?” she asks.
Jesus Christ. I consider taking it off her, but as she looks over it, the confidence builds in her stare, and I won’t dare take that from her, especially not tonight, even if it means I risk catching one of her bullets. It’ll be worth it.
“Good enough, just keep your finger off the trigger until someone needs to die.”
Cristian gives out the order for my men to prepare to infiltrate the warehouse, and though I’m sure we’ve lost our advantage of surprise, I don’t hear any commotion coming from inside. Nobody is trying to escape, and there’s sure as fuck no one going on the defense.
Perhaps we still hold on to that element of surprise.
Cristian nods, getting a message through his earpiece before he turns to me. “We’re ready,” he tells me.
“Good. Then call the order.”
With that, Cristian gives the order for my men to go, and in a show of pure beauty, every door surrounding the building is blown to pieces. Multiple explosions boom through the night, and as the smoke billows high into the sky, my team races forward, guns at the ready.
Chiara stays right on my ass as we fly through the narrow opening, her hands wrapped around the gun as though she’s trying to choke it. I pause by the door, taking a moment to survey the chaos below.
My men are pouring in like perfect soldiers, taking out every obstacle in their way, and I watch as men begin dropping like flies.
Girls scream, but the sound doesn’t come from the few girls visible on the floor, and it leaves me wondering just how many girls Ezekiel was attempting to auction tonight.
“There,” Chiara says, pointing out something in the chaos.
I follow her eyeline, and as if on cue, Ezekiel turns and meets my stare.
I’ve never seen a man look so terrified in my life, and that says a lot coming from me. Taking in his fear is like a drug to me, and within seconds I’m intoxicated by the simple need to make him suffer. This man put his hands on my wife, violated her body, and sold her to be someone’s whore. He won’t escape my wrath, no matter how hard he tries, and I will enjoy every second of it.