Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Irritation flits across his face and he snags his phone from his pocket, punching in a number. “Where is my wife?” he demands, listening before he says, “Find her.”
My phone buzzes with a text and I remove it from my pocket to find a message from Blake, a well-timed photo of Savage talking to Phillips’s wife. His wife is touching Savage’s arm and staring at him as if he’s a god. I set my phone on the desk. “He doesn’t need a weapon to kill her. And he’s not the only one with his skill set in the building right now. We can make this event get dirty fast. We’ll get you the coin, but we’re walking out of here alive and together.”
He snaps up my phone, studies the photo, and sets it down. “She doesn’t matter to me,” he states, but the set of his jaw says otherwise. “But get the fuck out. You have three days to get me what I want. No more. And just to be clear, Ana, I own the FBI. Try to cross me and the body count will pile up.”
I don’t reply. I don’t smirk, though it’s tempting. I don’t taunt to lion in his own den. Instead, I offer Ana my hand and stand, taking her with me. “Well, we better go, then,” I say, meeting his stare. “Before the body count adds up.” With that, I place Ana in front of me, walk toward the door, and make sure it’s me who gives Phillips and his bodyguard my back.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ana
The minute we’re inside the BMW I turn to Luke. “How’s Savage getting out of there? And why didn’t I think about this until now?”
“He’s resourceful. He’ll get out.”
I want to find comfort in those words, I really do, but we just made Savage a target. And I was so small-minded I never even thought of how he exits the party and manages to do it alive.
“Adam is in there with him,” Luke adds. “Smith and Dexter are present. And none of them will let Kurt kill Phillips.”
“Lord, help us,” I say, understanding coming to me, “we just left Kurt inside that house with the man he wants to kill.”
“He doesn’t know he’s the king, as he calls him,” Luke replies, pulling us down the driveway. “I don’t know what he said to you when you saw him,” he adds, “but he reminded me he’s not dumb enough to go at Phillips in that public of a setting.”
I cling to those words, I do, but I’m also watching our rearview, making sure we leave the property without a tail. Exiting the gates is only step one, but it’s a big one that I wasn’t sure Phillips would allow. Once we’re on the main street, we get the heck out of the area, and then and only then, does Luke call Blake. “Talk to me,” he says when Blake answers.
“You got his data,” he tells us. “I’m working it now. What do I need to know?”
“He’s the guy,” I say. “The head of all of this. He’s looking for a coin called the Natilda.”
“He says it’s for his personal collection,” Luke adds. “But he’s antsy to get it in a way that tells me he has a powerful buyer.”
“Who obviously wasn’t his son,” I add. “Darius somehow thought his son was the buyer. I have a feeling he was tricked, and that’s how he ended up dead.”
“Sounds like it,” Blake replies. “You two drive. I’ll work the data.”
“What about Savage, Kurt, and Adam?” I ask.
“They can handle themselves,” Blake assures me. “Adam has eyes on Kurt. He won’t leave without him. More soon.” He disconnects.
We spend the next fifteen minutes, ensuring no one can follow us to the house. When we’re finally there, Luke pulls us into the garage, and we enter the house to find Kurt standing with Savage and Dexter around the island.
I don’t know who I’m more relieved to see—Kurt or Savage.
“That cloud app worked,” Dexter informs us. “Blake’s working on the information now.”
Luke shrugs out of his jacket and tosses it on a chair by the table while I step to the end of the island. “I can’t believe you were there,” I chide Kurt. “You didn’t even use a disguise.”
“They all think I’m dead, baby girl. Hiding in plain sight makes dumbasses confused.”
“True that,” Savage chimes in, popping the top on a beer and slugging a drink. “Those fuckers weren’t well-trained. You’d think a rich bastard like Phillips would hire better talent.”
“You shouldn’t have been there,” I continue, still focused on Kurt.
“I’m here now,” he says, his eyes practically bleeding with the stubborn attitude I find there. “And I’m fine. Alive and well.”
“Until you get yourself killed.”
“He’s a tough old geezer,” Savage interjects. “Chicken shit who ran from me, but still a tough old geezer.”