Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
“They’ll rescue all of us.” Kairo said it with such confidence, not a single waver of doubt entered his voice or showed on his face. He believed completely in his companions, and something inside of Isidore swelled for him. It was nice that he had people he could depend on like that. Even nicer that they’d work to save all of them before fully understanding the situation. “I’m sure they’re already following what clues they could find to Europe, but I’d like to make their job a little easier if possible.”
There was no time for Isidore to ask his sister more about how she was doing or anything else. The door was thrown open yet again, and Isidore could only heave a soul-deep sigh. Could they not give him just a few minutes to visit with his sister?
Vanko was in the lead, gun out and face red. The bodyguards behind him were a mix of angry and embarrassed. Isidore was willing to bet it was thanks to this tiny woman slipping right past them.
Kairo climbed to his feet first and moved in front of them, blocking Vanko’s path.
“You said she wasn’t in here!” Vanko roared, the gun moving right for Kairo’s face.
Isidore’s heart tripped over itself in his chest. He didn’t like that weapon so close to Kairo. The smallest little twitch could leave Kairo dead. He began to rise to intercept Vanko for Kairo, but Athena’s hands grabbed his arm and held him tightly. Something inside of him screamed, Protect Athena. Protect Kairo. But he couldn’t do both.
However, Kairo was more than capable enough of protecting himself. In a flash of movement, Kairo grabbed Vanko’s hand with both of his, twisted his body, and then twisted back with Vanko’s gun now in Kairo’s hand and pointed at the kidnapper’s face. The bodyguards started to move, but Kairo was faster, punching one in the nose and kicking the other in the balls, sending him moaning to his knees.
“Enough! I have fucking had enough!” Kairo shouted. “I’ve been drugged and dragged across the globe. Told I’ve got to do this job, and nobody’s talking to me about getting paid for this bullshit. You screaming at him about losing your leverage.” He turned his angry glare on Athena and Isidore, shocking Isidore by waving the gun at his sister. “And that one over there is climbing in windows.” Kairo turned his attention to Vanko, whose mouth was hanging open like a landed fish. He got in the man’s face as he demanded, “Is this your first fucking kidnapping?”
“What? I-I—”
“If this is your first kidnapping, I want the fuck out. I’m not dealing with goddamn amateurs,” Kairo snarled. He paced the short distance to the other side of the room with the gun still in his hand. When he turned back to find the man who was holding his bleeding nose had recovered enough to point his gun at Kairo.
Kairo stopped and glared at the man. “You speak English? You point that gun at me one more time, I’m gonna feed it to you and then shove each bullet into your body by hand. You get me?”
The goon’s wide eyes darted from Kairo to Vanko, as if he wasn’t sure what to do or think. Isidore tensed, barely able to drag air into his lungs. Kairo might have a gun, but he was still outnumbered. He wanted to help him, but right now it seemed like the best thing he could do was to stay out of his way.
As it was, his entire body was frozen, eyes locked on the stunning man moving around the room like an angry tiger in a cage. If any of them dared to move, they could be the tiger’s next target. He was beautiful. Even in his rumpled clothes, with dark circles under his eyes, Isidore couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone who looked so impressive.
Vanko slowly shook his head at his man. The bloody-nosed man lowered the gun to his side but didn’t put it away.
“All right. Common sense time. We weren’t hiding her. You watched as they searched the room. Is there anywhere we could have fucking hidden her?” Kairo ranted, waving his hands to indicate the entire room. “No. She climbed out of her damn window and into ours, because she wanted to see her brother. Send one of your men to nail her window shut.”
“What if there’s a fire? How will I get out?” Athena immediately cried.
Kairo spun around, his expression cold enough to send a chill through Isidore. Even though he trusted this man, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling Athena behind him a little more. “Don’t start a fucking fire, and you won’t have to worry about that!”
“But…” Athena mumbled softly. It didn’t matter. Kairo had turned away.
Athena squeezed his hand and Isidore met her questioning, worried gaze. He knew what she was demanding without saying a word. Could they really trust Kairo? Was he going to betray them?