Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
My arms tightened involuntarily, and I realized I was doing a lot better at this than I would have been had Raphael not been here.
And I realized something; in the middle of whatever bullshit that I was in, I trusted my brother.
Meaning I knew he’d take care of me and not let anything happen to me.
Surely if I trusted him with my life, I could trust him with my heart again.
Agent Fry’s eyes came to where Nathan was resting, and then back to me.
“Fine, whatever. At least the fuckin’ dog isn’t here,” he mumbled. “But make sure you keep an eye on her. She’s likely a flight risk. Fuck!” Marky Mark was at the clubhouse. Had been there since this afternoon when Alison had picked him up from the groomer’s. Thank God. I had a feeling if he’d been here, he would be dead right now. He ran his hands through his hair. “Do you know how fucking hard it’s going to be to get another shipment in on such short notice?” He licked his lips. “Fifty-seven fucking girls! I had buyers for most of them!”
Raphael pushed me back toward the back hallway of Wolf’s house; I started backing up, sensing when to cut and run.
“Be back,” Raphael said as he guided me out of the room.
I went willingly.
The moment the door shut, I whirled on him.
“What the fuck is going on?” I hissed at him.
Raphael held his hand up to stop me before I could get too animated about what was going on, and shoved me in the direction of the safe room. Wolf had explained about the safe room in an earlier conversation, apparently.
“Get back in there,” he ordered. “I want you to lock it and not open it. Not for any goddamn reason. Not for me getting my head blown off. Not for Wolf getting his blown off either. Not for any goddamn reason. Do you understand?”
I swallowed, a ball of fear keeping me from breathing correctly.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Good. Go. Don’t come back out.”
With that, he pushed me in the direction of the door to the safe room, and gestured with his fingers for me to hurry up.
Punching in the numbers, I pushed the door open, and Raphael closed the door hard behind me.
Nathan’s big body stirred, and I looked down at him when he lifted his face from my shoulder.
“Rave?” he whispered. “Tired.”
“Yeah, baby. Go back to sleep.”
His face scrunched up and then he nodded his head before laying his head back against my shoulder.
By this point, my hands were aching uncontrollably, and I had to put him down or I’d drop him.
He was a big boy. Way bigger than any kid in his class or on his baseball team.
As I laid him down on the bed that was covered with a scratchy gray blanket, I looked down at him and wondered what in the hell I was supposed to do now.
Was I supposed to just wait here and see what would happen?
Would I need to call the cops?
I had worked myself into a fine hysteric, going from looking at the monitors on the walls that showed me Wolf’s house to Nathan’s sleeping face, and was nearly convinced to call the cops when I realized that I still had my cell phone. Meaning I could call Wolf.
Jesus Christ!
Nabbing my cell phone, I pressed Wolf’s name and put it up to my ear.
It only took him five seconds to answer it, and by the time he did, I could tell he was on his way.
“Raven?” he answered urgently.
“I’m okay. I’m in the safe room.”
“Nathan?”
“He’s with me,” I replied soothingly. “We’re okay. Raphael and that guy, Fry, they wanted Nathan away from us. Raphael was able to talk him into putting me in the bedroom with him.”
“Who’s there with you?”
“Nobody but Raphael and that Fry guy,” I whispered. “Wolf…what the heck is going on?”
My eyes went to the bedroom where Raphael was wearing a hole in the floor from his pacing and went back to Nathan’s still form.
“Fuck,” he whispered, sounding relieved. “That’s good to know. I’m on my way. We’ll be there in less than five minutes.”
I bit my lip. “So what do you want me to do?”
Wolf made a soothing sound.
“Handle what you need to handle in that room. DO whatever you need to do, but do not, under any circumstance, leave that room,” he ordered.
That being the second time I was ordered not to leave, I understood doubly well that I was not to leave. If the two main men in my life thought I shouldn’t, then I wouldn’t.
No way in hell.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll stay in the room.”
“Good.” He took a deep breath and the sound of a motor started in the distance. “You may see something you don’t like on those videos; I’m asking you to turn the monitors off until you hear the special knock I showed you on the door earlier.”