Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 94024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
I froze. “Izzy, is that a hickey?”
Ash’s eyes widened as the kitchen fell silent. “Iz?”
“Uh…” She gulped, and then Maksim lazily walked into the room, his hair poking out every which way.
Ash lunged.
Izzy screamed.
And Maksim used me as a human shield.
Perfect.
“The hell, Maksim!” Ash roared. “How the hell did you sneak in? We nearly had to put on a porno to get Valerian by!”
“Oh, that.” Maksim winked. “I had impeccable timing.”
Izzy rolled her eyes. “He’s good with his fingers.”
“WHAT?” Ash looked ready to murder.
“Chill.” Izzy grinned. “He’s a climber, duh, he climbed the tree by my window.”
“That tree’s nearly impossible to climb.” Ash glared in my direction as Maksim still hid behind me.
“That’s what she said.” Maksim’s voice lowered. “I have really, really strong fingers, some might say magic.”
“Keep talking, ask me what happens next,” Ash growled.
Junior and Serena walked into the kitchen, and I stared. Had everyone stayed the night last night?
They took in the scene.
Serena’s grin was pure evil while Junior crossed his arms and jerked his head toward Ash. “We killing him or torturing?”
“I’m leaning toward torture.” Ash smiled.
Serena rubbed her hands together. “You know, I slept on your shit couch last night, Ash, and woke up ready to kill you, and you give me this gift? You’re my new favorite cousin.”
“Hey!” I protested.
“Sorry, not sorry.” She winked. “Oh, also word on the street, is Valerian left early this morning. Something happened in Seattle, and Nikolai sent his jet…” Her gaze flicked around the room. “…and why is everyone looking at me like someone died?”
“He left?” The blood drained from my face, and I gulped in a couple of huge breaths. “Already?”
Maksim forgotten, I went and slumped into the chair. “I was going to try to catch him and go with him and—” I stopped talking and then perked up. “You think Dad would let us use his jet?”
Ash’s eyebrows shot up to his forehead. “No, but we could always steal it.”
Junior sighed. “Last time I walked with a limp for two weeks, no thanks.”
“Right, but that was because we went to Vegas,” I pointed out. “Not because we chased after the man I love.”
“Aw…” Serena’s face softened. “I like happy endings.”
“Same.” Maksim chuckled and winked at Izzy.
“I would stop before your blood gets sprinkled over the eggs, bro.” Junior patted him on the shoulder.
“Well?” Ash shared a look with me. “We doing this?”
I stood. “We’re doing it. Plus, Dad’s extremely distracted right now.”
From upstairs, Mom screamed Dad’s name.
We all exchanged looks of sheer horror.
And I’ve never seen so many people scramble out of a kitchen with hot food and coffee in my entire life.
It took us exactly an hour to go grab King, despite his protests, and Tank, despite his grumbling that our dad was going to kill him—but he was like having really good FBI back up, plus he was in this now, because we’d adopted him into our family. Now his allegiance was toward Ash and only Ash. Meaning if Ash said we needed him, he had to drop everything.
I thought Ash was going to shit himself when Annie arrived with Tank by her side, but they were close, and where he went, she went.
Annie looked like she was ready to hurl when the plane took off, and then she looked ready to hurl again when she locked eyes with Ash.
What the hell happened last night?
I looked around at all my family, my friends, and everything suddenly felt right in the world.
This time when we went to Seattle, there were no secrets, no lies, only celebrating in Valerian’s insane mansion.
“So, it’s right on the water?” Ash asked, strategically ignoring Annie while she tried not to steal glances at him. “Does he have a yacht? Because I could really go for that right about now, you know, along with a shit ton of pot so I can pass out and forget last night.”
Annie flinched.
“Ash,” I whispered. “What are you doing?”
“What I must.” He sighed and then put on his noise-canceling headphones and closed his eyes.
He missed the tear that slid down Annie’s cheek.
Just like the murderous glance Tank shot in Ash’s direction as he wrapped an arm around her. He handed her an iPad and headphones like it would distract her from Ash’s meanness.
He’d always had a mean streak because he had to out of necessity, but now… now it felt like he fed off his own cruelty.
Sometimes I didn’t recognize my brother anymore, and it broke my heart. How many more deaths would he cause, or survive before I lost him completely?
With that haunting thought, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, because when I saw Valerian, I expected to be up all night.
I fell into a deep sleep with a smile on my lips, imagining his face.
Chapter Thirty-One
Most enemies hide in plain sight, waiting for the day to step out and fight. —Valerian Petrov