Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“I have an appointment.” Matias rolled the syllables in Spanish.
An appointment for what? A prostitute? The idea of him fucking other women was ridiculous. Saving them, though? That made so much more sense. But who was he saving them from? Whoever had arrived in those luxury cars? An icy chill rushed through her core and chased the heat from her limbs. She glanced at Nico, but his attention was locked on Matias.
“You’re no fun,” the woman said. “This way.”
Matias followed her in and closed the door behind him.
“Fuck,” Camila whispered, shoving Nico’s hand away. “Are there slaves in there? Is this a whore house?”
He launched to his feet, dragging her with him, and pivoted toward the side of the house.
A second later, a solid dark shape darted around the corner from the backyard. Ski mask. Slender build. Large knife in hand.
Frizz. She recognized the metal buckles crisscrossing his black shirt.
“Back door?” Nico asked the other man in a hushed voice.
Frizz shook his head, blue eyes glowing in the dim light from the porch. Jesus, he looked different with his stitched lips hidden and his crazy hair tucked away. He looked…normal. Young. Really fucking young, like late-teens. He was just a baby.
Had he been rescued from slavery himself? If so, why would he torment the slaves at the estate?
He held up two fingers and pointed across the yard at the shadowed tree line. Identifying the location of the men Burd had brought?
Holding down three fingers and a thumb, he pointed his knife at the house.
Nico nodded and turned toward her, whispering, “Three men and a woman inside. Shoot anyone you don’t know. Try not to kill the female.”
What the fuck? The gun rattled in her hands. “Why would I kill anyone when I don’t know who they are?”
Those people could be undercover DEA or FBI or just a family trying to survive amid the violence. They could be the good guys.
What if that wasn’t it at all? Maybe Matias’ cartel captured women who ran slave rings and sold them as punishment. Her heart pounded. Could she hope for such a possibility?
Nico lifted a hand to touch the mask on her face and stopped before making contact. “You’re about to find out.”
Frizz slipped around them and crept onto the porch, his steps silent and movements graceful. Nico followed, and she stayed on their heels.
They froze at the sound of a wane cry coming from the dark corner of the stoop. Definitely a dying animal.
Frizz moved first, slinking toward it. Thank fuck, the boards didn’t creak, but she braced for it, tensing for any noise that might give them away.
She stepped where Frizz stepped and stopped beside him, her eyes straining in the absence of light as she tried to make out the floating shape.
A lamb. She sucked in a breath through the mask.
A newborn lamb, hanging upside-down by its back legs. Its front legs scissored weakly, reaching for the floor but not quite touching. Its mewls were so frail and brittle it must’ve been hanging there for a long time.
Manic energy surged through her blood, begging her to help it. But Frizz beat her there, knife out and cutting it down before she took the first step.
When he lowered it to the floor, she whispered inanely, “Why?”
“Dinner.” Nico turned back toward the door.
Dinner? Fine, then fucking eat it. Don’t torture it first. What the fuck was wrong with people?
She moved to follow Nico, but her gaze was glued over her shoulder.
Frizz squatted beside the poor thing, petting it and making shushing sounds. It didn’t even try to move or run away. Probably too weak. Or maybe it didn’t know any better than to trust a guy who sewed up women. Maybe this was an alternative reality, and she didn’t know which end was up. Whatever was going on, watching him soothe that lamb made her chest so tight she couldn’t breathe.
She joined Nico at the door, and he held up a closed fist, signaling her to stop. His other hand gripped the knob, but he didn’t turn it, didn’t move.
Her pulse spiked. They’d already used up thirty seconds with the lamb. What if Matias needed back up for…whatever the fuck he was doing?
Another count of too many seconds stretched by before a scream penetrated the door from within. Nico swung it open, and she followed him through, gun pointed toward the floor and her pulse pounding in her stomach.
A woman lay unconscious on the floor, bleeding from her temple, but it was the heavy thumps and whimpers coming from the back of the house that slowed Camila’s gait.
Frizz swept around her and knelt beside the woman as Nico took off down the long hall that led toward multiple closed doors, his pistol trained and ready. He slipped into the first room and shut the door. Grunts immediately sounded through the wall, followed by something crashing.