Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“I can’t think straight. Why are you doing that? If something happens to me, don’t you know what can happen to you?”
“What does it matter? You’ve ruined my future by betraying all shadow riders. Even if I survived whatever happens to you, what do I give to my future wife? A man who will never be in love with her. She’ll always know that. Where’s the honor in that?”
“Where’s the honor in what you’ve done? The last thing I expected to find was the two of you.” She nearly spat the accusation at him and then she shut down, pressing her lips tightly together, although her dark eyes sparked fury.
Her response was intriguing. Not only intriguing, but it was the first genuine reaction she’d given him.
“You just admitted you came to New York for something other than dancing. Why are you here?”
“I told you, I dance. If you check into my background, you’ll see I dance all over the world. It’s what I love.”
“I did warn you.” He stepped closer to her, making her very aware of his intention. Her bare feet were vulnerable and easily stomped on.
Geno knew he could never go through with it, not with her, and already he was beginning to have doubts. She might know something of what was going on, but she wasn’t involved. There was far more to this than met the eye.
Amaranthe was already bent over. Her arms dropped toward her ankles. She didn’t hesitate or stop, fingers manipulating the cuffs locking her feet to the floor, not even when Stefano cleared his throat to remind her he held a gun on her.
Before she could move toward the nearest shadow, Geno was on her, tackling her, knocking her from the chair, taking her to the floor. She was even tinier than he realized. He felt as if he had crushed every bone in her body. The moment she was under him, the defiance was gone. The fight was gone. She knew it was impossible to get away from him.
Geno felt the instant resolve in her. The movement in her jaw. Subtle. Her tongue sliding along the roof of her mouth, working to uncover a flat wafer hidden there. Alarm skittered through him.
He levered his body up and with both hands caught her jaw, his mouth coming down on hers, forcing her lips apart. One hand wrapped around her throat, making certain she couldn’t swallow if she tried. His tongue sought the wafer. He was far larger than she was. If the poison, or whatever compound it was, was precisely made for her size, he had a better chance of survival than she did.
Geno clamped his tongue over the tablet, dug it away from the roof of her mouth and took it into his own. It was dissolving fast.
No. She fought him, trying to twist out of his grasp, turning her head. Spit it out. You can’t touch that. Spit it out, Geno. It’s poison. Spit it out.
He obeyed, turning his head to try to rid himself of the tablet, but most had absorbed into the tissues of his mouth.
Call in the Archambaults, Amaranthe. Don’t trust anyone but Stefano and the Archambaults. Geno tried to warn her. He knew he wasn’t going to make it. Hopefully, he had ensured that she would. She wasn’t guilty of the crimes committed. Whatever she was doing in his territory, she hadn’t been a party to the murders.
Amaranthe’s heart rate accelerated to such a rate that the others in the room could hear it. Geno’s did as well. Then abruptly her heart ceased beating. Geno swept his tongue through her mouth to try to clear the contents and spat several times to rid both of whatever compound she had tried to ingest. He rolled her onto her back and began doing CPR.
It’s beginning to work on me as well, Stefano. Get the defibrillator. Call for a doc. I’m going to crash. Anyone breathing for us can’t put their mouth on ours.
Stefano issued the commands and eased his cousin to the floor. “You ingested even more than she did.” He started CPR on Amaranthe.
Call in the Archambaults, Stefano. You can’t do this alone. Someone is working to kill all of us or turn us against one another. She didn’t do this.
“Shut the fuck up and breathe, Geno,” Stefano snapped. “You die on me and I’m going to be so pissed I’ll follow you to hell and bring you back.”
Valentino caught up the defibrillator and hastily attached the electrodes and turned on the machine. “Get clear. Everyone needs to be clear.” The machine began to analyze Amaranthe’s condition.
The poison had to be absorbed through membranes. She tried to stop me. I’m not feeling so good, Stefano. I’m a lot bigger than she is. Hopefully, the tablet was designed for her size.