Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“And your friends?”
“Look, I thought she was lying. I thought she was … different. The women I’ve been with before, they loved the attention that my friends gave them, and I always tested them.”
“So you treated my little girl like those bitches I’ve seen sniffing around you.”
Roman tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “It wasn’t intentional. Alex rebuffed them at every single opportunity.”
“Of course she did.” Liam tutted. “If she asks for a divorce after this, you are to grant her it, no questions asked.”
“We have adopted kids together, Liam. I’m not going to turn my back on them.”
“You did it as all part of a plan to seduce her.”
“I did it because those kids are amazing,” Roman said. “Being around them and Alex, we’re a family. I don’t expect you to understand that.” He shook his head and brought the car to a stop at the side of a curb. “We have to walk from here.”
Liam climbed out of the car, and Roman did the same. Side by side, they made their way down the street, coming to a set of gates. They were hidden by overgrowth from years of neglect. His father liked to have safe houses in places where he figured no one would enter. With the iron gates with spikes on top, and walls too high to climb, Roman had to figure right.
First, he opened the box on the side of the house that was hidden by a load of branches. He pried it open and typed in the code. The gate opened slightly with enough room for him to slide on through.
Liam followed close behind him, and the gates closed the moment they were through.
“How did Phillip get Alex here?” Liam asked.
“There are several exits and entrances. He would have had to use the back entrance. He came by car.”
“And how the fuck did he get here by car when we were on the driveway?” Liam asked.
Roman sighed and turned to Liam. “Seriously, you’ve known my father a long time and you haven’t figured out he’s paranoid and would have multiple exits and entrances?” With his dad, there was always a secret tunnel that led to a single garage, near the back of the property. Roman had once known all the codes, but he’d stopped going to the safe houses years ago.
“Fair enough. Your dad has issues.”
“Don’t I know it.”
Roman made his way to the front door. There was no one to greet them. No soldiers waiting to take him on. What was Phillip’s game?
After they stepped into the house, the door closed. It had been a long time since this house was used as the musty smell was a little overpowering.
“About time you showed up.”
Roman looked straight ahead and saw a cloth had been wrapped around Alex’s face, pressing into her mouth. Phillip stood behind her. He had her long hair wrapped around his fist and was also yielding a knife.
“Alex!” Liam took a step toward her, but Phillip tutted.
“I would be very careful if I was you.” Phillip tilted the blade of the knife, and Roman saw blood seep out near the tip.
He was cutting her.
“If you touch her—” Liam said.
“What? Do you think you can stop me?” Phillip asked. “You handed her over to my brother. You signed her death certificate the moment that happened. Alex was never going to be safe.”
“And is that what you planned all along?” Roman asked. “To start a war that you hoped would erupt between us?”
Phillip chuckled. “I did my research. I knew Liam wouldn’t let Alex’s death slide. He’d get to the bottom of it, and I always intended to let it lead back to you, brother. The firstborn son, her husband.”
“How?”
His brother tutted. “No, you are not going to distract me from what I have planned. It is simple. For Alex to leave with one of you, you have to kill each other!”
Alex started fighting against him.
Phillip tugged on her hair, making her cry out. “Don’t even think of fighting me. Remember what I told you, those little bastards will be dead if you even think to defy me.”
Roman turned his cell phone on in his pocket, calling Antonio. He gave it a few seconds, hoping his friend would pick up the call. “Little bastards?”
“You think I didn’t know about the whole adoption process?” Phillip laughed. “It’s so fucking funny. The heir to the Greco empire being a little step-daddy to all the bastard children.”
“And you’re going to kill them?” Roman asked.
“I’ve got men in place. They know if I don’t make it out of here, they’re to go in and slaughter them all.”
“How did you figure it out?” Liam asked. “That they were Greco bastards?”
Roman looked at Alex, and each time one of them called the kids bastards, she got angrier. That was good. His wife was a fighter. She wasn’t going to be taken out easily.