Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 148238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
“Unless you mean the business meeting I have in a few days, then no. Nothing. You’re safe to fucking murder me and make your getaway before the sun’s up.”
I ignored that and moved to sit in one of the office chairs. Resting the gun on my knee, I said, “Okay, first question. Where are we?”
He groaned. “Seriously? What do you want? A map? Coordinates? We’re at my home. I told you.”
I bounced the gun on my leg. “No. I understood that part. Where are we? What town? What country?”
The room went deathly silent. His head rose from the tiles, his skin white as a ghost. “What?”
I swallowed. I hadn’t realized that by asking such basic questions, it would show my weakness in return.
What can he do? So what you lost your memory? He doesn’t want to know about you anyway. It doesn’t make you any more vulnerable or easier prey.
I might even be stronger because my secrets were safe—no matter how much I wished to know them.
I leaned forward in the chair, letting my red hair cascade over my shoulder. The waves were thick—the ends a little straggly.
“Answer me. The longer this takes, the less your chances are of me actually being able to heal you without a doctor.”
Kill clenched his jaw. Finally, he said, “The Florida Keys.” Rolling his eyes, he added, “You know. America?”
I froze. America? So I’m an American? My accent didn’t sound like it. Maybe they’d stolen me from another country and brought me here?
“And where did your men kidnap me from?”
“No fucking clue. I don’t micromanage. They had orders for five girls—they came back with six.” He shrugged, flinching. “I don’t ask for a report. I trust my guys—even if they can’t count.”
“What will happen to the other girls?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t turn all tenderhearted on me. You’re in charge right now. The minute you start making demands of me to let them go or have fucking mercy, that’s where it all ends. Their fates were sealed months ago, before they even knew we were coming. Pretend you never saw them, because that’s the best you can do for your little conscience.”
I clasped the gun harder, my finger stroking the trigger. “Fine. We’ll come back to that. How long do I have before you find a buyer for me?”
His nostrils flared. “You ask the weirdest fucking questions. How about where’s your phone? What’s the number to dial the local police station?” He struggled to sit up, his legs splayed in front of him, blood blazing bright on the white floor from where he’d been lying. “Don’t you care you’re mine? Don’t you care that I’m about to sell you? What the fuck are you still doing here asking me questions that have no fucking point?”
He pointed behind him. “Stop waving a gun in my face, and leave. You’ll have a pretty good head start before I can get off my sorry ass and chase you.”
My eyes flew to the door. The temptation fired my blood, sending adrenaline into my legs. I stood up, pointing the muzzle at his chest.
He smiled coldly. “There you go—a normal reaction. Run from me, sweetheart. This is your one and only chance.”
I inched toward the door, my fear growing thick and fast the closer I got to the exit.
It wasn’t fear at leaving or running half-naked through streets, or even calling the police to come and find me, it was the thought of leaving with yet more mysteries strewn behind me.
Planting my feet on the tile, I gathered my scattered courage.
Ask him. The one question you want answering.
My heart tripped over itself. I desperately wanted to know but desperately didn’t at the same time. Either answer threatened to ruin me, just in different ways.
Kill glared. “What the hell are you still doing here?” He pointed at the door. “Go, goddammit.”
I stormed forward, lost in my need to know, consumed by the urge to look into his eyes when I asked him.
Standing over him, I snarled, “Tell me one thing, and then I’ll decide what to do with you. Save your life or kill you.”
He smirked. “Oh, better make it a good one, then, seeing as my life hangs in the balance.”
Leveling the gun at his forehead, I whispered, “I know you. I know it deeper and stronger than I know myself. Tell me the truth. How do we know each other?”
Something flickered in his emerald gaze. Something I would’ve given my life to decipher, then the ground swooped from beneath me and painful tile crashed against my spine.
The boom of the gun ricocheted around us as it spat its deadly bullet into the wall. The black weapon skittered away, hiding beneath the desk and out of reach.
Kill wedged me beneath his blood-soaked body, breathing hard and reeking of copper.
In my need to understand I’d gone too close.