Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
“How come that Matt person is still breathing?” If she was ever going to lie to me, now would be the time. I was, in essence, letting her know that I knew about the other two and that she was the one behind it.
“I left him for you unless you want to bring him back here for me to question.”
“That’s a negative, but why him? Why does he get preferential treatment?”
“Because he knows more about the girls that were taken. His church has branches in many nations.”
“Ah, I get it. Where is he?”
“Uncle Hank has him.”
Now it was my turn to glare across the room at him.
“You not dropping any bodies in New York, are you?”
“Is that your kid? Ask her where the hell my wife is.” Flannagan barged into the room, looking like hellfire.
“Ooh, Daddy, static, gotta go.”
“You….” She exited the damn call.
Chapter 83
*Ryder*
“Where are we going?” She whispered the question as we were being driven through the quiet early morning New York streets by the two very stoic men up front.
“I have no idea. They didn’t say. Are you nervous?” She turned to look out the tinted window while keeping her hold on my arm, where she had hers wrapped around my elbow.
“Not really. Isn’t that strange?”
“I know what you mean. I was thinking the same thing earlier.” I don’t feel this at ease around men I hire myself and have known for years.
“Have you noticed, though, how quiet the street was when we left the apartment?”
“It’s early.”
“Yeah, but this is New York. There’s always someone outside, no matter how late or how early it is. I don’t think there was even a pigeon on the sidewalk.”
I’d noticed that, too, and didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to spook her, but I was pretty sure the two men up front had something to do with that. I wouldn’t be surprised because all of Lyon’s men seem to have some sort of tactical training. Besides, these two didn’t look like the type for small talk.
She rested her head on my shoulder, and we both went back to our own thoughts, no doubt both wondering where it was they were taking us. I had some ideas, but none of them made sense, so I gave up playing the guessing game. At first, I thought it might be to see Rachel or Elena’s mom, but neither of those two seemed plausible, and by the time they pulled onto the street with what looked like boarded-up abandoned warehouses, I was starting to doubt my blind faith in them.
When an old, rusted metal gate slid up, and they drove into the dark deserted underbelly, letting the door slide close behind us, I was sure that I’d made a very horrible mistake until one of them spoke. “We’re here; take your time; we’ll get you back without being seen once you’re done. You have to be on set in a couple of hours, right?”
Elena nodded wordlessly, looking just as spooked as I felt. “What is this place?”
“You’ll see. Jared and Travis are inside.” I relaxed at the mention of the two men we had met before, and so did she. I still wasn’t sure what the hell we were going to find, though, when they let us out of the vehicle, and we walked up the cement steps to the iron door that swung open as if someone had been waiting there for us.
The first thing I heard as Jared stepped back out of the way to let us pass was a song that I had been hearing a lot lately on social media. One of my fans had sent it to me a few days back, but I never really paid much attention since there was so much more going on at the time, but I’d heard enough to know that some enterprising person had written a whole song about our relationship basically calling Janie out for being little more than a stalker.
It was catchy, if nothing else, and seemed to have become some sort of anthem for her haters and detractors. I saw the surprise on Elena’s face as the words echoed off the walls as we followed Jared, which meant she hadn’t heard the little ditty before. “Oh my goodness, what is that song?” She looked as if she didn’t know if to laugh or not, and I just shrugged.
As we got closer to the door where we were being led, a loud screeching voice could be heard battling the music for volume as the person demanded the song be turned off.
We both came up short when we turned the corner and came face to face with Janie strapped to a chair, yelling her head off. I instinctively pushed Elena behind me as I kept her hand in mine. For the first few seconds, I didn’t know what to feel, but then she saw us, and the look on her face changed, and it wasn’t so hard after all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much hatred in a person’s eyes before.