Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“It’s all right, honey,” she crooned softly. “It’s done and over.” Her fingers brushed at his face and then her lips were there.
He realized there were tears on his face. He didn’t know if he was crying for the children or for himself, for knowing a monster lived inside of him, fully capable of taking revenge in a way that was so unacceptable to him that he could barely stand looking at himself in the mirror.
“I came back to the States. Drake was working security for Jake Bannaconni, and I joined him. Told him everything. Drake isn’t the kind of man you hold back with. He knows what I did, every fucking detail.” Joshua pressed his fingertips to the corners of his eyes and willed the migraine hovering so close to stay away. “Drake has been the constant in my life, and he got me through a bad time.”
“From everything I’ve ever heard about him, he’s a good man,” she murmured.
“He is, Sonia. He’s a very good man. I owe him.” He wanted her to remember that. He took her hand again and locked it against his bare thigh. “He asked me to take a position for him, one that once I did, I could never get out of. It would be dangerous and I’d be stuck there for life. I said yes. I didn’t hesitate or think about it. I was single. I’d looked all over the world for you and didn’t think I’d find you, so I said yes.” He turned his head to look at her.
Her eyes were dark chocolate. Melted chocolate. She looked at him as the white knight. He hadn’t given her the graphic details of what he’d done to those five men, but she had an imagination and yet she still looked at him with love. With that look. That gave him hope. If she could accept the worst in him, the monster, maybe she could accept what he was now. What he would be for the rest of his life.
“I took the job, Sonia, and there’s no going back.” He had to make that plain. “I don’t know where to start when I tell you this. I have to tell you. You need to know for two reasons. The first is that I want you with me, which means you’ll be accepting my way of life and all the ugliness that comes with it. Friends turning away, people whispering behind your back.”
She frowned, her gaze glued to his. She gave a little shake of her head but remained silent. She clearly had no idea where he was going. He usually had the right words to say, but now, in the most important conversation of his life, his mind was all over the place.
“The second reason is that you’re in danger. They know where you are.”
Her eyes widened. Her tongue touched her lip. The lower one. The one he loved. God, he hated this.
“Nikita Bogomolov saw the painting hanging over my fireplace and he recognized it as yours. He didn’t say so. He tried to buy the painting from me, and when I wouldn’t sell, he went up to it and found your signature, the S and L you loop together. He took pictures with his cell and left abruptly. He was supposed to go to New Orleans for a few days, but said he had an emergency and needed to return immediately.”
As he gave her the information, the color drained from her face. Slowly terror crept onto her expressive features. “Nikita was here? He found me? Oh my God, Joshua, you can’t stay here. You have to leave. He’s going to come back and he’ll torture you to try to find my whereabouts. I have to leave. I have to run. When was he here? How much time do I have?”
There was terror in her voice, not just for herself, but for him. She still thought he was the good man, the white knight, and the last thing he wanted to do was change her opinion of him, but she had to know.
“Remember I told you I had an important meeting the other day? We canceled all the work because we were meeting here at my house.”
“Of course.”
“The meeting was with Nikita Bogomolov.” He dropped the bomb quietly, watching her carefully. Sonia was smart, but she wanted to believe in him.
“With Nikita? Why would you have a meeting with him?” She shook her head. “If he’s kidnapped someone and Drake Donovan wants you to pay the ransom, whoever it is is probably dead. You can’t deal with him and win. I know him. They kill entire families.”
“It had nothing to do with a kidnap victim,” he said, as gently as possible.
“What, then? Why would you meet with him?” The comprehension was there, she just hadn’t allowed herself to believe it.