Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
When the car stopped, I was thrown forward like a ragdoll. We made a turn, and it was clear we weren’t on a paved road anymore. The noise of tires digging into dirt filled my ears as I bounced around painfully. After ten minutes of that, the car jerked to a halt and the engine shut off.
The sound of doors opening made my pulse spike, and I braced myself for whatever was coming next.
Someone pressing the trunk button from the outside, I blinked, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Rocco, Slater and Julian were standing over me, a starry sky above them as a cold breeze chilled my skin.
“Th-this…” I stuttered. “This must be a bad dream. I’m going to wake up any minute.”
“Not a dream,” Slater said, reaching down to stroke my cheek with one of his long fingers as if to prove it.
“Get her out of there,” Rocco commanded, his tone stiff.
I still couldn’t quite process what I was seeing. “It was you guys?”
Julian gripped my arm, lifting me out of the trunk. Once I was on my feet, he swung me around, cutting the bonds. He immediately began rubbing my sore wrists, but I jerked away from him.
I backed away, my ankle turning on the gravel underneath me, but I glowered at him when he reached out to steady me.
A million thoughts raced through my head. Fear was a big one. Why had they brought me out here? Why had they fucking kidnapped me? Confusion, fatigue, and anger were present, too.
And also… relief? That didn’t seem right. These guys were known killers. And yet somehow, my stupid brain didn’t really believe they’d hurt me.
Probably a lot of kidnapping victims had thought that and learned the hard way that they were wrong.
Unable to handle all those emotions at once, I settled for looking at my surroundings.
Right in front of me was a small, cozy cabin. The air was much colder than in New York City. Tall trees surrounded it, but it was too dark to see much beyond that.
“Where are we?” I rasped, my throat dry.
“Where in the world are we?” I squinted up at Rocco.
“Near the Catskills,” Rocco answered, and he handed me a water bottle. I didn’t want to take it from him—I didn’t want anything to do with him—but I was really thirsty. “This is my cabin,” he said as I unscrewed the cap with shaky fingers. “You’re safe.”
“Safe?” Anger made me forget about my thirst. “You just fucking kidnapped me!”
Julian answered. “Sorry about that. We didn’t have time to explain things back in New York.”
“Time?” I sputtered. “How long does it take to say, ‘Hi, Maggie. Please get in the car—in the car, not the trunk—and we’ll explain on the way.’”
Slater eyed me. “Would you have gotten in?”
“Yes,” I said stiffly, though I had to admit that I might not have. Slater looked unconvinced as well.
“It wasn’t just that,” Julian said with a sigh. “It was also for appearances. If anyone saw us, well, it had to look like we were taking you away against your will.”
“Which you did,” I pointed out. “But why?”
“Because of our orders,” Slater said quietly, but I didn’t understand what he meant.
I had a million more questions for them—and a thousand nasty names I wanted to call them, but I focused on what was probably the most pressing point. “So what’s the big emergency?”
“Julian, you’re up,” Rocco stated, gesturing him closer.
Julian turned to me, his arm raised as if he was going to touch me, but then he pulled it back. “There’s no easy way to say this, but we were ordered to kill you.”
“What?” Shock filled me, but somehow, my reaction was incredulousness instead of running, like a normal person would.
“We’re not going to,” Slater said. “But our Don ordered us to take you out.”
“So that’s why you brought me out here,” I said in a small voice. It made all the sense in the world, but still—I didn’t quite believe it.
“No. That’s why we did some research and tried to figure out why,” Rocco said. “You may think we’re mindless thugs who just follow commands—and that actually is how it usually works. But we go out shooting people anytime we feel like it. Our boss wouldn’t say why he wanted you dead, so we took it upon ourselves to find out.”
“Long story short, we discovered something about you, Maggie,” Julian said, and this time he did place his hand on my arm. “And about your father.”
My what? “I haven’t seen him since I was four,” I said. If these guys thought my deadbeat dad had something to do with this, they were insane.
“Actually, you’ve never met him,” Julian said. “His name was Emilio Roselli.”
That wasn’t true, but the name caught my attention, and I turned to Rocco. “You mean the man who took you in. The one who taught you about the Italian culture.”