Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
She’s vicious, uncompromising, and perfectly innocent all at once. I don’t think she or anyone else around her has ever noticed. That wounded little girl is still in there. That’s not to say that she’s not strong, cold, and calculated in the way she deals with things.
But beneath all of that cold detachment beats the broken heart of a child who wasn’t protected by the one person she sought solace from. It’s good that her brothers always rallied around her, and I plan to repay them when the time is right. But they can never take the place of the father she idolized.
I know all about fathers and their daughters. My little sister is a Daddy’s girl from her head to her toes. I’ve seen her cry rivers of tears if he was late for dinner when we were younger, so I can only imagine the hell that would’ve been her life had he ever pulled a stunt like the one my father-in-law did.
She has no idea how much more I love her for wanting to protect our future children. This whole contract is a manifesto to that very fact. How can I not love her? Does she think I don’t realize what her loving me and trusting me means?
It's a heavy load to carry, and one that I am honored to. Because I know someone like her, with her strengths and weaknesses, couldn’t have given herself to me easily. The fact that she admitted her feelings this soon is another testament to the brave woman she is, and I will spend every day of the rest of my life cherishing her.
On the other hand, and tantamount to all this, she’s fucking nuts. I’ve been keeping an eye on her by having someone else watch Jackie’s movements because even though I trust my team, I don’t trust them enough to leave my wife in anyone else’s hands.
So, I know that the two of them have been tormenting that Helen woman. I also know Jackie had found her the rabid raccoon; I just don’t know what they plan to do with it, and I’m afraid to ask.
I have to give her Jackie because she asked, but the thing is, Jackie is one of my best team members, so I know what she’s capable of. You don’t really hear about female mercenaries, but that is exactly what she is and one of the reasons I hired her.
She has a story that I’m not going to share because it’s not mine, but she burned out a few years ago and went into hiding. Before this, she was deep undercover to bring down an international trafficking ring, and some dark shit went down that almost splintered her mind.
I snatched her up, had her committed to a hospital where she was treated and hired her as soon as she was cleared. She left her whole life behind, and I respected her choice, but there’s someone looking for her that, if he knows I know where she is, would make my life hell.
Marcus Blair is not someone anyone should mess with, and he wouldn’t accept that I’m keeping her safe for him because I believe that she would return to him when she’s ready, but it’s been years, and he’s getting crazier by the fucking day, and I’m not ready to deal with his shit.
Marcus and I go way back because his father and mine had done business together years ago. He’s older than me by about ten years or so, but he’s always been someone I could go to in certain situations, so it was only right that I keep his woman safe.
Jackie’s only a few years older than Alyssa and has seen and endured some horrendous shit in her short life, so that is why I know the two of them would be good for each other. Two broken birds have found each other.
I always thought Marcus was good for her, even with their age difference, because someone like her needs that. But she’s not ready, and she told me a long time ago when I sat next to that hospital bed holding her hand as she tried to heal that she loves him but was too broken and felt like she would only hinder his life.
I didn’t believe that for a second, and now it’s been two years since I helped her disappear. If she survives this one, I’ll get the ball rolling on getting those two back together again. But for now, I’ll let her and my wife wreak mayhem on unsuspecting people to satisfy their blood lust.
“Just so you know, there will be no more sex until you sign that.” I hadn’t said one word to her. She was busy on her phone, and I was busy watching her.
She has some kind of tourettes that’s not on the books yet, I suppose because every once in a while, she comes out with these things that have nothing to do with whatever is going on at the time.