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)
“Thank you for finding the cameras,” Molly said in a low voice. “I haven’t had a friend like you ever.”
“You found them,” Sonia pointed out. She glanced at Molly. “I’ve never had a friend like you either. I think we’ve both gone through similar situations. My husband tried to kill me, your boyfriend tried to kill you. We’re both really, really bad at picking men. You’re involved in a relationship with law enforcement again. I’m involved with a man who looks like he should carry a neon sign that flashes danger, danger, danger.”
Molly’s smile was a little wobbly, but it managed to make her face look like the sun had just come out to shine. “I’m not in a relationship with Bastien Foret.”
“I think you are. I think he thinks you are. I think the town might think you are.”
Molly’s soft laughter filled the cab of the truck. “You’re so crazy.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap, her smile fading away. “I’m so sorry you got dragged into this.”
Sonia shook her head. “Don’t say that. You haven’t dragged me anywhere I haven’t been. Actually, I’ve been in worse. My father worked for the Russian mob. He wasn’t Russian, so he was very low level. He was a carpenter with a gambling addiction. To cover the gambling, he took jobs for the mob. Papi taught me most of what I know about carpentry. He even allowed me to set dynamite charges when he moved rocks and land from plots to build.”
She glanced at Molly to see how she was taking the truth. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about what her father had set in motion all those years earlier. He’d created a debt that had had to be paid. They were lucky Nikita Bogomolov chose to keep them alive rather than kill them along with her father.
“Keep going,” Molly said quietly.
Sonia sighed. The pressure in her chest was painful. She felt Gatita rising to comfort her. “He stole from the mob. That’s never a good thing. It was a lot of money and they made an example of him. Then they went to Mami and demanded that the two of us work off the debt. I thought, at first, they were good to us. Much later, after my mother died, I found out that my father-in-law forced mi madre to sleep with him. She cleaned his house and apparently had sex with him. We lived in the guesthouse on their property. I helped her take care of the house, but she was careful not to let me see what was really going on.”
“I’m so sorry,” Molly whispered. “That must have been terrible for you.”
“Sasha, his son, was fifteen years older than me. He was always looking out for me. Always taking care of me. The entire time we worked for his father, he treated me like a younger sister. I loved him. I really loved him. Then my mother got sick and everything changed. I was so scared. For her. For me. For us. Sasha took care of every detail. The nurses she needed around the clock. The bills. He got her the best care. I loved him for that. When I think about those times, I still do. That man. The one who was so good to my mother.”
“Of course you loved him,” Molly said. “I love that he did that for you.”
“I was so lost and he was so strong. He married me to protect me, he said. I knew I loved him, maybe not the way a woman loves a man, but he was so good, I knew in time I’d feel that for him as well. For almost two years we were together. He didn’t like me going anywhere because he said he had enemies. When I did go, I had bodyguards with me.” Which was why she resented Kai and Gray looking after her every minute. “I didn’t have friends. I didn’t even realize just how isolated I was until I overheard that conversation and I knew they were planning on killing me.”
“The bastards. They were your family.” Molly glared out the windshield. “That is one sick, twisted man. Or men. Both were twisted. Did you know they were mafia?”
“No. Everyone kept that from me. When my father was murdered, I had no idea it had anything to do with them. When mi madre took me to live with them, I still didn’t know. There were men with guns, but I thought they were there because we’d been threatened. Later, Sasha told me that their family was threatened all the time because they were wealthy Russians. I believed him. I believed everything he ever told me. His father hired a tutor for me and I was homeschooled. Again, I was told it was for my safety.”