Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
There’s a reason I haven’t seen them. They stopped coming to the hospital when things got too hard for them to handle.
Not ready to think about how my friends abandoned me in my darkest hour, I mutter, “I don’t think so.”
Dad’s eyes flick to me again. “Did something happen between you and them?”
I shake my head and glance out of the window. “Our lives just went in different directions. It happens.”
He’s quiet for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“It happens.” Leaning forward, I turn on the radio and adjust the volume so the music isn’t too loud.
Just as Dad pulls away from a traffic light, I relax against the seat again and glance out the window.
There’s a black car to our right, and with the windows rolled down, I get a glimpse of the man in the back seat.
Recognition slams hard into my gut, but a second later, the car turns up a side street, and I can’t see the man anymore.
I’m dead sure that’s the man I dreamed about the night after I got the transplant.
I’d recognize those hazel eyes anywhere.
As the car drives away, I realize it’s a Bentley.
Is it the same one I saw at the cemetery?
Not even a minute later, I’m second-guessing myself.
Maybe it was just déjà vu?
Chapter 10
Renzo
Sitting in my living room, I watch the lifestream from the cameras I planted in Davies’ mansion.
I bring the tumbler of whiskey to my lips and take a sip, my eyes glued to Skylar, where she’s blow-drying her hair.
She’s physically changed over the past three weeks. Her face isn’t gaunt anymore, and her skin has a healthy glow. With the weight she’s gained, she’s gone from pretty to strikingly beautiful.
She’s sitting at her dressing table, facing the camera, and when I look into her clear blue eyes, it feels as if she can see me.
Her movements slow down, and with a frown forming on her forehead, she switches off the hairdryer.
She glances around her, then tugs her bottom lip between her teeth before murmuring, “This is getting insane. There’s no one there.”
The corner of my mouth lifts in a predatory smirk. “Oh, I’m here.”
Brushing her shoulder-length ginger hair with hard strokes, she says, “I better stop seeing ghosts everywhere, or Dad’s going to drag my ass to the nearest therapist.”
When she places the brush on the table, she stares into the mirror and lets out a sigh.
I get up and walk closer to the TV screen until I’m eye-to-eye with her.
She’s really fucking beautiful.
Skylar gets up and walks to her bed. She’s only wearing an oversized T-shirt, and when she crawls onto the mattress, and sits down with her legs folded in front of her, I have a direct view of her black panties and smooth inner thighs.
For a moment, my body betrays me, and I begin to harden.
She pulls her laptop in front of her, and knowing she’ll be busy on it for at least the next hour, I finish the whiskey before setting the tumbler down on the coffee table.
Heading upstairs to my bedroom, I grab a pair of sweatpants from the walk-in closet before going to the bathroom.
I switch on the faucets in the shower, and while the water warms up, I strip out of my suit.
I place my gun on the counter, my thoughts circling Skylar like a vulture getting ready to swoop in for the kill.
Fuck, I’m growing impatient and have to decide what I’m going to do.
Watching Skylar Davies live her perfect life with Giulio’s kidney in her body is torture.
Stepping beneath the warm spray, I begin to wash my body while one thought after another rushes through my mind.
I could go to the mansion and give them a quick death after getting all the information from Harlan.
Or I could have them taken to the warehouse, where I can slowly torture them.
Or…
I can take Skylar’s precious freedom. Holding her captive would be the worst kind of torture for both of them. Harlan clearly loves his daughter more than life itself, and being separated from her would drive him insane.
Switching off the faucets, I step out of the shower and grab a towel. As the soft fabric wipes the drops from my body, the corner of my mouth lifts.
I like the idea of Harlan losing his fucking mind. I’ll have his precious daughter, and there would be nothing he can do to save her.
Slipping on the sweatpants, I grab my gun from the counter and walk out of the bathroom. When I head down the stairs, the smell of microwaved popcorn hits me, and then I see Dario sitting on my couch while watching the camera feed like it’s some goddamn movie.
When he sees me, he pops a kernel of popcorn into his mouth and says, “I got hungry from watching the woman cook. It looks like she has some serious skills.”