Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Ricky nodded at him. “Liv, your boy’s about to pop a vein in his forehead.”
She closed the distance, her shadowy gaze caressing his face, her nearness replenishing the oxygen in the air. She clasped his fists and uncurled his fingers, her hands sticky with blood.
“Why’d you free him without a transaction?” Martin crossed his arms over his chest.
Her eyes didn’t waver from Josh. “He’s stubborn, disobedient, and untrainable.”
He saw so much behind those words. Her spine straightened defensively, her lips flattened with fear, and her eyes hooded with affection.
“He failed the buyer introduction.” She raised their laced hands to her chest. “You would’ve failed the next one, too. It was only a matter of time before Mr. E and Van saw this—” Her lashes lowered, her gaze on their hands, and fluttered back up. “They would’ve killed you.”
A mass of regret clotted his throat. He didn’t mourn loving her, never that. But he wished he was smarter. There had to be a safe way to end this with her family protected, but he couldn’t see it.
The guys continued their road cleanup, but their attentions lingered on Liv. Without hesitation, his possessive heart led his lips straight to hers. With a hand on her neck, his other clasping hers against her chest, he kissed her deeply, nipping, licking, stealing her breaths, swallowing the hum in her throat. She was his, and he owned her mouth with a kiss that would leave no misunderstanding.
When he released her lips, her eyes clung to him, dark and hungry. Exactly how he wanted her. After all his questions were answered. “You freed me. Freed Kate. How does this save your mom and daughter?”
Camila paused in her effort to kick gravel over a patch of blood-stained dirt. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”
The red slicking Liv’s cleavage gleamed in the headlights as her chest heaved. She unwound their hands and walked toward the van. “We need to wrap this up.”
He shoved his fingers through his hair, watching the uncharacteristic wobble in her retreating strides. “Camila, why didn’t she tell me about you? About this?” He gestured at Ricky and Luke, who were pouring jugs of acrid-smelling vinegar over the crime scene.
“She freed you,” she said, softly. “When you return, you’ll be swept into the investigation of your disappearance. Lots of interrogations.” She jerked her chin at the group. “How are you going to keep this a secret? We’re killing people, Josh. And Liv is crazy protective of our identities. In fact, she’s terrified her expressions or reactions around Mr. E and Van will give us away. So she lies to herself when she’s in that house. She thinks of us as dead.” She turned toward Kate, whose eyes were glazed and distant, and stroked her hair. “Until she needs us.”
Across the road, Liv leaned against the passenger door of the van, stripping her boots and wiping the blood from her chest with a t-shirt, her expression downcast and inwardly focused. He never once suspected this endgame, and he liked to think he knew her better than anyone else did.
He watched her with a renewed appreciation for her mystery. She was a complicated puzzle, one he planned to enjoy for the rest of his life.
A new life. What did that look like? He wouldn’t return to his old life without her. Yet, she’d sent him on his way as if she expected him to do just that. His spine tingled. “She wouldn’t have freed me unless she had a solution to save her family.”
Kate’s shoulders bunched as she watched Liv wrestle with the front clasps of the bodice. “She’s going to kill herself.”
His nostrils flared, his pulse spiking in objection. “Did she tell you that?”
Her head shook as she hugged herself. “I was just thinking about her behavior since we left the house. She cried a lot on the way here. Then her voice grew cold and weird. She started singing “Last Resort”, you know, that suicide song by Papa Roach. Definitely not her usual genre of music.”
Muscle-clenching fear shot through his legs. He sprinted toward Liv, watching her movements, his entire body aware of her fingers on her corset and her feet pacing in a tight circle. Did she have a weapon on her? Would she attempt it right there? In front of him?
He skidded before her and slapped her hands from her belly. “Do you have a blade under your clothes?” He wiggled the remaining hooks free, dropped the corset, and tackled her bra, searching the seams. “Answer me.”
“Fuck you.” She gripped his arms, tried to stop his hands from unclasping the back hooks.
The bra dropped, her breasts bare and streaked with red. No weapon. He dropped to her latex shorts, shoved them past her hips.
“What the hell are you doing?” She glowered down at him, kicking off her shorts like she was going to kick him.