Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Trouble was, she didn’t know if she could do it anymore.
If she could leave Tanner. If she’d be able to take down Stefan alone. Because she didn’t want to be alone anymore.
“I . . . I can’t,” she said before any of them could speak. Tears drifted down her cheeks. “I can’t go back to him. Please don’t make me.”
“Like fuck anyone is making you!”
To her shock, the outburst came from Raid. He started pacing. “Damn it, Alec.”
Tanner turned her, so her legs straddled his. He cupped her face, wiping away her tears. His face was intense. Stern. “Not happening. Ever. You hear me? Not. Ever.”
With a sob, she leaned into him, her face pressed to his chest as she cried.
It was embarrassing, but she couldn’t stop. Behind her, voices raged.
“Stop!” Alec ordered. “All of you listen to me. We are not sending her back. And I’m insulted you thought I would allow that to happen.”
Oh no.
She hadn’t meant to upset him.
“Sorry,” she said, turning in Tanner’s arms.
He arranged her so she was sitting side-on. Then he grabbed a tissue to wipe her face.
Alec pointed at her. “You do not apologize to me. Understand?” Then he turned that finger to his brothers. “You lot, I’m disappointed in.”
“What could we possibly bargain with, then?” Raid asked, pacing back and forth.
“Why bargain with him at all?” West asked. “We should just murder the bastard.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” Alec asked.
“I don’t know, pay Regent’s contact to poison him?” Maddox suggested.
“He has a poison tester,” she said.
“What?” Tanner asked.
“Yeah, someone always tastes his food and drinks first to make sure they’re not poisoned. He’s a murdering asshole, but he’s not dumb. Are you . . . are you planning this arrangement in order to lure him somewhere?” she asked.
Alec stared at her, approval in his face. “You’re smart.”
She was her father’s daughter, after all.
“What? I don’t like this idea, either.” Tanner frowned.
“Regent thinks it’s our best chance,” Alec said. “We agree to a trade, lure him out of hiding, and then we kill him.”
“And the person you’re going to offer to exchange is me,” she said numbly.
Alec leaned forward. “Let me make this clear. We are not trading you. You are not going with him.”
Lilac nodded, trying to keep her breathing steady. She got it. She really did. And she thought it was the best idea she’d heard.
There was just one problem . . .
“Not. Fucking. Happening.”
Yep. That problem.
47
They were all out of their fucking minds.
Tanner couldn’t believe they were even discussing this. Because it wasn’t happening.
“I’ll do it.”
His heart stopped. His head nearly exploded.
“You will not!” Standing, he deposited her on the chair he’d been sitting on and started pacing. “This will not happen.”
“Tanner, it’s the best idea.” She stared up at him with wide eyes.
“No.”
“This is our only chance to get him out in the open. I take it you have a plan to, uh, take care of him.”
Tanner watched her swallow heavily as she said that. It couldn’t be easy for her to talk about killing her own brother, no matter how much of a monster he was.
“That’s where Tanner comes in,” Alec said. “And Raid. Butch too.”
“What?” Tanner asked. What was he talking about?
“We’re going to need to scout out a place where we can set you guys up so you can stay hidden with a scope and rifle.”
“You want me to shoot him?” Tanner asked. Not that he was against the idea, he was just surprised.
“You’re the best shooter we have. Raid and Butch are good too. Maddox, you’re on recon.” He turned to Maddox. “Need you to have eyes out there, watching for when he arrives. He’ll be expecting something.”
“Right.” Maddox nodded. “I think we should find somewhere open, where he won’t expect anything. It might mean you have to take a shot from a long distance,” he said to Tanner.
“I can do that if the conditions are right.”
“We’ll get onto scouting some places,” Maddox said, reaching for his phone.
“But there’s still a fucking problem,” Tanner said.
Alec sighed, looking at his girl, then at him. “We need to use her, Tanner. If there’s another way, then tell me.”
There had to be another way. Because he wasn’t allowing this.
“Fine, we make the bargain, but she stays at the home with the other women.”
“We’ll need some help to guard the other women,” Raid said.
“And Lilac. Because she’s staying here,” Tanner insisted.
Was no one listening to him?
Lilac got to her feet and grasped hold of his hands. “Tanner, I have to do this. I won’t be alone. You’ll be there. Alec will be with me.” She glanced over at him.
Alec nodded. “Both me and West. Regent said he’d sent Victor and some of his men. I’ll probably use them to protect everyone back here.
“That’s smart,” she said. “I wouldn’t put it past Stefan to attack while you were all occupied.”