Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Ambrielle looked at her parents and then back at Thompson. “Have I done business with you? I’m sorry, I honestly don’t remember you.”
“That’s too bad, sweetheart, because you should always remember the man you’re going to marry.”
She stared at him, laughter bubbling up. She was absolutely certain she’d never met him before. “I think you have the wrong woman. Maybe the wrong family. The wrong house. Dad, Mom, do you know this joker? Because this has to be some kind of joke.”
“I assure you, sweetheart, this is no joke. You came to my casino with your parents a few months ago. You were celebrating another big sale your mother made. Toasting her. Laughing. You have a beautiful laugh, Ambrielle. It was difficult not to notice you. I made it my business to find out everything I could about you, and luckily, you fit right in to everything I need for my bride. I was just negotiating with your parents how big your dowry will be.”
“I don’t have a dowry, and we aren’t getting married.”
“Ambrielle, sweetheart. Your parents have a choice to make. Sign over their very vast fortune to you right now, or I put a bullet in your father’s head. Then I have your mother sign the paper anyway. You marry me and make certain that fortune continues to grow the way you’ve been doing for your parents, only you do it for us, since the money will all be yours and you’ll sign it over to me. If you do that, your parents remain safe.”
Thompson looked at her father. “I believe your signature is required on the papers I’ve had drawn up.”
Her father shook his head. “This is ludicrous. I don’t know what Dobbs told you, but he lied. Even if I signed these papers, they wouldn’t do you any good.”
“Who are you?” Ambrielle asked, staring at Thompson, trying to place him. He wasn’t making any sense. “Yes, I was at a casino in New Orleans celebrating with my parents a few months back, but I don’t understand what you mean by this.” They’d been on a riverboat casino. It had been a tremendous amount of fun. “I’ve never met you. Why would I want to marry a perfect stranger? And Dad’s right. Why would Dobbs tell you that signing those papers would matter when—”
“Enough.” Walker Thompson smiled. She’d never seen any smile so cruel. “Gleb. If you or Denis would be so kind.” Thompson nodded his head toward her father.
She turned to look at the man who had been in the hallway with her earlier, the one she’d marked immediately as the most dangerous. He had a gun out, the one he’d shown her. Instinctively, she knew what he was going to do.
Ambrielle hurtled her body in front of her father, or at least she tried to. Two men caught her firmly, holding her while she fought like a wild animal to get loose as the man called Gleb pulled the trigger once. She made no sound as her father slumped over, quiet in his death, blood on his chair and running down his face to soak into his shirt. She stilled. Her mother very gently placed her hand on her husband’s arm.
Ambrielle’s eyes met her mother’s, and then she raised her gaze to meet the shooter’s. He was a big man. Blond. He was all hard angles and planes. His eyes were a light blue, almost crystal. She memorized every inch of his face. The way he moved. The way he held himself.
Gleb shook his head. “Don’t.” He warned her softly. Even with just one word she could hear a slight accent—Russian, if she wasn’t mistaken.
She hadn’t said a word. She didn’t need to. He’d read everything in her eyes. If she lived through this night, she would hunt him down and kill him. Nothing would stop her. Nothing. No matter how long it took. She would find him.
The men holding her were strong, and they had her in a viselike grip. They wouldn’t keep that grip tight for very long. They would buy into the fact that she was a woman, and she was small. They would think she was cowed, defeated. She just had to keep her mouth shut. Gleb wasn’t buying what she was selling, but the others, they would. And Walker Thompson would. He was too arrogant to even realize he had four cobras in his very own entourage. Those four Russians might look like they took his orders, but they would kill him in a second if it suited them.
“Mrs. Moore, I believe you need to sign the papers giving the money to your daughter for her wedding present.”
“Wait, Mom,” Ambrielle interrupted. It was pure bullshit signing the papers. The money was already hers. She didn’t want her mother to tell Thompson that. He clearly hadn’t done his homework. Dobbs hadn’t told him the truth. What his reasoning was, she didn’t know, but at least she had the chance to keep her mother alive. “Give me your word that if she signs the money over to me, you won’t allow anyone to kill her. You won’t kill her. You’ll keep her alive.”