Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Beck went still and she knew she’d made a mistake. There was a reason she’d left that specific part out of the report. She’d thought someone like Taggart would understand the underpinnings of the threat without putting it baldly out there to taunt Beck.
Or maybe she’d been worried Beck wouldn’t care.
It seemed one way or the other when it came to this man. He either went over the top with rage or he was cold. There was none of the in between she needed from him.
He pushed off the table. “I’m going to kill him.”
She should have known. “Good. Way to make it not about you, babe.”
He turned on her, his jaw clenched tight so every word came out peppered with tension. “How am I supposed to act? Am I supposed to be perfectly fine with the fact that he means to drug you and put you through everything McDonald put my men through? You expect me to be okay with that?”
She’d wanted to avoid more masculine bullshit. “This is why I didn’t put the specific threat in the report. And I seriously doubt he was going to train me to commit crimes for him. He was interested in other things. He wanted a good little wife who would submit to him.”
There was a fine flush to Beck’s face. “Don’t you bring that into it. That is not what submission is about.”
Why did she love him? Why did it have to be this one stubborn, obnoxious man? She bit back a wince as she got to her feet. “Fine. I didn’t use the right words to describe what he was going to do to me. Maybe you can write up my next report so I get it right.”
She was done with this, done with the seesaw of emotions this man brought out in her. Maybe Ari was right and it would genuinely be better for both of them if she walked away and was never heard from again. She would take her secrets with her and leave Levi and Beck to fight this out on their own. Or Levi would leave Beck alone once he realized she wasn’t trying to get close to him anymore. She could find a deserted island and Survivor the crap out of the rest of her life.
A big hand gripped her elbow and whirled her around. “Hey, where are you going?”
She was out of his hold in two seconds. One more and she was the one with hands on him. She wrenched his arm behind his back and had him on his toes. “I think I’ve been manhandled enough for one day.”
He went still. “I don’t know what I did wrong. I’m mad because he threatened to hurt you. You can’t expect me to not care that he’s planning to dose you with that drug. I’ve spent the last few months of my life trying to fix the results of that fucking drug. Tell me you wouldn’t be upset if he’d done the same to me.”
She sighed and let go of his arm. “I wouldn’t let anger take away from comforting you. You would be my first priority. The way I used to be yours.”
He ran a hand through his hair, pressing it back as he began to pace. “All this time and we lose it to him. To fucking Levi Green.”
She understood his frustration. “Levi always wins. It’s why the next time I have a shot at killing him, let me take it. No matter the cost.”
His jaw went tight. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I want this over with. All of it. If it means I go down then I go down, but I will take him with me.” This could all be over with if he’d simply allowed her to get back in the limo. Yes, she would have probably been taken out, but Levi would be done.
She could have done one good thing before she died.
“I couldn’t stand there and let you die.” He moved in behind her, his hands coming to her shoulders. “I’m fucking everything up again. I swear I came down here to make sure you were okay.”
“I thought you came down here to make sure I hadn’t run.”
“I walked out of that shower and damn near panicked,” Beck admitted. “It’s because I know if you run this time, you won’t come back. My feelings for you are so complicated, but I knew I couldn’t sit there and let him take you. You’re right. I’m not putting you first. I haven’t in a very long time, but I don’t know if that’s my place anymore. I worry if I put you first, I’ll disappear.”
“No, you’re worried if you put me first, if you let go of the anger you still feel, you’ll be betraying your brother,” she corrected.