Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
"You're safe here. We have countless men working on bringing our son home."
"Wh-who are you?" I ask, my eyes darting to the multi-million-dollar home. "If you're not a fed, what have you gotten yourself into?"
His lips form a flat line. He has already told me once that he wasn't going to go into detail about who he is and what he does for a living, but I guess killing four men and cutting a tracker out of the back of my neck didn't bring him any closer to trusting me.
"Just know that we're the good guys. We don't hurt people who don't deserve it, and we fight with everything we have to bring justice to horrible people."
"People like my father?" I whisper.
"Your father was a piece of shit, Peach, and although you may have loved him in your own way, that fact still remains. He hurt countless people with his guns and drugs, but the team I work for focuses more on sex-trafficked individuals. Your father and Damien Gaines wouldn't have been on our list of people to take down until I asked them for help with Eli."
Eli. Not me.
It shouldn't hurt my feelings, but I'm no longer in control of how I react to his words. Honestly, feeling happy he's willing to help and get others involved is amazing. Without them, I have no chance to get my son back. Damien has never been the type to feel bad for someone and grant them a reprieve. He sure as hell wouldn't do a single thing to ease my mind or make my life easier.
"Let's go inside," he says before pulling his hand back from mine and opening his door.
I feel antsy, not knowing what I'm going to face inside the house. It's much too big to be only his, telling me there are people inside, and I've seen a lot of betrayal in my life. He managed to slip into my father's organization unnoticed, so it wouldn't be unheard of for someone inside to have been turned by Damien or to have been a plant from the beginning since my husband didn't kill him like he had claimed he had for years.
What else has Damien been lying about?
"How much more danger is Eli in since you killed those men?" I ask when he opens my car door.
"I can't answer that question, Peach," he says as he reaches down and takes my hand the second I climb out of the car. "But I can tell you that there was no way around it. There was no bargaining with those men."
"What if they were doing Damien's bidding to protect their own children? What if Damien has their kids too?"
A sob bubbles from my throat, making me feel even more helpless and out of control.
"Then they died as heroes for their kids," he says without apology.
The front door opens before we make it onto the porch, and my feet skip a step at the sight of the beautiful woman standing in the doorway with a soft smile on her face.
"Welcome home," she says, giving Jericho a bigger smile before turning her gaze to me. "Hi, Aspen. I'm Zara."
I shake her hand, realizing that mine is empty now. Nolan released it when the door opened.
I swallow as I do my best to give her a smile, feeling like we did something wrong.
"Come inside. I know it's probably too late for coffee and freshly baked cinnamon rolls, but I made them anyway."
Ever the gentleman, Nolan pauses as I climb the steps so I can enter the home first, following Zara through a massive open area to the kitchen on the far side.
Zara explains so many things.
It's not that I expected him to jump into my arms. There's too much between us now for that to be possible, but him shutting me down so quickly makes sense now.
Zara flits around the kitchen, grabbing plates and coffee cups as I take a seat at the breakfast nook.
She seems completely normal. Why would Nolan even consider a physical trip down memory lane with me when he has this woman? I don't even compare, and the reality of that is like a slap to the face. I come from dirt and blood, crime and evil.
She seems like she has always stood in the light, shadows never managing to get their claws on her. She's clean and proper, literally, everything I'm not.
"Thank you," I tell her when she hands me a plate with a massive cinnamon roll on it. I pass it to Nolan because reflexes take over and with Damien, I've never been allowed to be served first. "Nolan?"
"Nolan?" the woman asks as if the word has never slipped past her lips before.
She hands me another plated sweet roll, but I'm freaking out a little inside, wondering if he has given her a different name. Would he bring me here while he's working another undercover case? Has he been lying to her as well?