Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I didn’t fight, because I had nothing to fight for.
I sat on the curb with my arms on my knees, a camp of homeless people across the road sleeping in their tents. I was in the glow of the streetlight, a car parked a few feet away from me. I should jump to my feet and get to work, but my hands were still tied behind my back, even if the cuffs had been removed.
I sat there for an hour before I got to my feet and walked. My phone had been left with Octavio because I didn’t want Bolton to have information he shouldn’t. Instead of waving down a taxi, I walked across town until I approached Axel’s house.
The gates to his property were gone…just gone. They hadn’t been knocked down or dented in. It seemed like a crane had removed the doors from their hinges and literally moved them elsewhere. I walked onto his property and quickly realized no one was around. Bolton’s men had been called off after he’d gotten what he wanted.
I just hoped he kept his word.
When I went to the front door, I saw that it had been kicked in. Half of it was off the hinges completely. I let myself inside and stepped into the foyer. “Axel?” I raised my voice and called up the stairs. “Axel?”
“We’re in here.” Axel appeared out of the study in his sweatpants and nothing else, his face strained like he’d been so stressed, he’d broken all the blood vessels in his face. His eyes were red and puffy, as if he’d cried more in the last few hours than he had in his entire life. He looked infinitely more heartbroken than the night he’d let Scarlett believe he cheated on her.
“Scarlett is here?” I asked as I walked to him.
“Yeah.” He swayed on the spot, looking like a ghost of who he used to be. “She told me you came for her.”
If Axel was going to thank me, I wasn’t going to accept it. “How is she?”
“She’s okay.” He sniffed, and his eyes started to water. “But I’m not okay.” Tears exploded from his eyes and cascaded down his cheeks. “They took her, but I couldn’t stop them. I had to protect our babies…”
My hand went to his shoulder. “She’s okay, Axel.”
“They pointed a gun at my daughter’s head…” He continued to sob. “I had to let them take Scarlett—”
“You did the right thing.”
“I let them take my wife—”
“You did exactly what Scarlett wanted you to do.” I cupped the back of his head. “And she’s home now, and your babies are safe. It’s over, okay? It’s over. Breathe. Just breathe.”
He bowed his head and tried to shut down the tears, but a few continued to flow.
“You have no idea how sorry I am about all this.” I felt my own eyes water because I felt like shit. I was the reason this had happened. I was the reason Axel had almost lost his wife…and almost knew how it felt to be a widower. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” He sniffled.
“We both know it’s my fault. Because I asked you to watch Astrid.” Bolton must have figured it out. Axel had come with me to get Astrid out of the house that burned down. Bolton must have made the connection then. Astrid always said how smart he was. “But it’s over now. Everyone is safe.”
“You killed him, then?” He quickly dragged his forearm across his eyes to catch whatever moisture was left behind.
The guilt was like a knife between the ribs. I wanted to lie…lie so fucking bad. “No.”
He sniffed again then composed himself. He didn’t seem to register what I’d said until seconds later. “What do you mean, no?”
“No.” I repeated the answer and felt the same pain all over again.
“Then what happened? What about Astrid?”
“She chose him.”
He cocked his head, his eyes shifting back and forth. “What the fuck are you saying right now? That woman loves you.”
I couldn’t tell him the truth. It would just make him feel like shit. When I’d come here, I’d intended to tell him the truth, but seeing his devastation…and knowing they’d really put a gun to his daughter’s head…made me realize that Bolton would actually make good on his threat, and Axel had been through enough. “She chose him. I don’t know what else to say.”
Axel continued to look at me like I was crazy. “I don’t understand.”
“When I showed up there to spare Scarlett, Astrid came, and they talked—and she decided she wanted to give their marriage another try.” I knew Astrid had put on the performance of a lifetime to keep me alive. She was smart enough to know that Bolton would kill me even when she showed up. I didn’t watch her kiss him because it was too hard. Tried to block out the sound of her voice when she spoke to him. Watching her walk out that door and doing nothing to stop it…was the hardest thing I’d had to do.