Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Alistair, if you understand, then you know I need to do this. For Winter.”
His face hardened. “You can’t ask me to put you back in danger, Luna. Your mother would never forgive me. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. I already lost your sister. I won’t lose you too.”
I flung away, making it as far as the staircase, then doubling back to say... what? I didn’t know.
Think, Luna. Think. There’s nowhere to storm off to on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The only way back is to convince him you need to do this. Figure out how.
“What if there was a way to guarantee my safety?”
“Then I’d patent it, sell it, and become the richest man in history. No one can guarantee their safety.” He frowned. “Particularly because of this club Leon was telling me about. Do I have it right that there’s a secret dare club that makes people’s lives a misery?”
“Yes, and—” The truth hit me in the face. “Everleigh is one of the monsters behind the scenes, running things. That’s how she knew she was talking to the right people when she sent Giovanni, Wesley, and the others after Winter,” I said. “They’re a threat, but thanks to me, they’re not a secret anymore. I’ve got the whole campus talking about them.”
“That doesn’t protect you.”
“The guys will protect me, and I’ll protect them. It’s what we do.”
“Like they protected you from Starling?”
“That’s different.” I went to the kitchen and poured myself a drink. I didn’t know how much time had passed since Mr. Dumont pulled me out of that fire. It was long enough that my throat was sandpaper. “We got into that mess because we couldn’t be honest with each other. Now that everything is out in the open, nothing like this is going to happen again.”
“You don’t know that. If you’re so worried, I’ll allow them to join us where we’re going. That’s my best and final offer.”
“But—”
“Feel free to explore the boat,” he said, walking out. “Nothing is off-limits to you.”
“But, Alistair!”
He left, leaving me fuming at his retreating back. Eventually I dropped the scowl, and then myself in the armchair. How could I blame him? No one could deny Everleigh Starling was dangerous. She tried to have me killed and would’ve succeeded if she hadn’t chosen the wrong hit man.
I was asking to face her again with the odds uneven. She had enormous wealth, influence, the Royal line, and the T.O.D. Club at her disposal. What did I have to go against her? Alistair wouldn’t help me kill the teenage daughter of his former best friend. I only had my guys by my side, and that’s assuming they weren’t planning on dumping me for getting them in this mess.
Groaning, my head dropped on the cushion. Victor refused to throw in with the Rogues. Wilder was preoccupied with the mysterious threat from his brother. Rafael and Cato were being used to control their father, and me...
I was no closer to figuring out how I would take down Everleigh since before I started my thought train.
“Think,” I said out loud. “Eventually, Everleigh will realize her plan to draw Alistair out into the open failed. She’s waited ten years for this. She won’t just give up. So, if I was her, what would I do then?”
My brain didn’t have answers for me.
Chapter Two
“You have to take me back.”
Alistair munched on a piece of toast, paying me half a mind while he scrolled on his laptop. “I only have to do what someone has the power to force me to do. That’s not you, sweetheart.”
“Stop calling me that,” I snapped. “I’ll admit I’m a Burkhardt when the paternity test comes back.”
He laughed. Three days, and we’d been having the same argument. Three days I’d been on a luxury yacht with the father I never knew, and it turned out he was a massive jerk.
He teased me, walked out in the middle of my pleas, laughed at my taunts, mercilessly beat me in every game we played, then hugged and kissed me good night even when I yelped and wriggled away from him. One didn’t become the leader of a criminal organization by being a pushover, and Alistair Burkhardt didn’t give an inch.
“My guys must be going out of their minds thinking that I’m dead. I can’t put them through that. It’s not fair to them.”
“That’s a nice sob story. Shame a violin wasn’t playing in the background.”
“Ugh, you’re such an asshole! What did Mom ever see in you?”
“I’m fantastic in bed.”
I blew back. “What in the hell. Are you trying to make up for eighteen years of not mentally scarring me for life!”
“Course. Now we’re together, I’ve got to make up for lost time.”
Groaning, I gave up and ate my eggs. The guy insisted that we eat breakfast together. Lunch and dinner, he was off making phone calls he wouldn’t let me overhear or tip-tapping away on his laptop that he wouldn’t let me near.