Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
“How young?” I ask. “He’s not a pervert or anything.”
“No, not like that,” Evie replies quickly. “Like my age. A friend my age.”
“Ah, okay,” I sigh. “We could try, but Geoffrey is a careful man. He’s not going to fall for any of the normal traps.”
Evie comes over to me and drapes her arms around my shoulders. I instantly start to feel better. Just her touch is almost enough to make me momentarily forget about the fact that I’ve somehow let myself be duped by the man closest to me.
It must have been a mistake I made after Maddox died. I needed a second-in-command, and I let Geoffrey step up and take his place. I told myself he was ready, but I obviously made the wrong decision, and now I’m paying for it.
But not for long. Now I know what I’ve done, who the traitor is, and all I have to do is figure out how to deal with him. From now on, no more vital information will go through Geoffrey, and he won’t be able to hurt me any longer. From this moment on, I will begin to control the bleeding in my organization.
“I’ll need to change up my security,” I mutter. “Hire men not hired through Geoffrey—”
“Why don’t you lie down?” Evie whispers into my ear. “Let me give you a massage?”
“I need to—”
“That can wait twenty minutes,” she interrupts, placing her hands on my cheeks and looking into my eyes. “Let me pamper my king like he deserves for a while.”
I hate to admit it, but this is exactly what I need right now. I would never recover if anything happened to her. It’s then that I realize just how badly I need her—how strong my feelings for her are.
I love her.
I have to do everything I can to protect her from now on. She sees things I don’t even see. She’s not just my obsession any longer; she’s my partner in crime.
“I love you.” The words fall naturally out of my mouth. I don’t even have to think about them. It’s not even a question any longer, and at this point, it just has to be said. “I can see you being a partner in my life, Evie. If you want that.”
Her jaw doesn’t quite drop, but her lips part just slightly to show her reaction. She’s surprised, but in a good way. There’s a twinkle in her eyes that lets me know what her response will be before she even gives it.
As her lips twist into a smile, she steps closer to me and presses a caring hand against my chest. I wrap my hand around her lower back and pull her to me.
“A partner,” she repeats, her smile expanding. “You’d trust me like that?”
I nod, brushing a piece of hair from her face. “I already do, Evie. You’re more amazing than I ever could have imagined.”
Evie is blushing as she tucks her chin and looks at me with eyes filled with more emotion than I ever could have hoped a woman would look at me with. Her expression…I wish I had a camera so I could capture it and keep it with me forever. But if the next words out of her mouth are what I think they will be, I’ll get to see it for the rest of my life.
“I love you too, Callum.” My heart nearly leaps from my chest. Christ, here I am a feared mob boss, and she has me feeling like a little boy again. “And I would love to be your partner—”
Chapter Nine
Evie
* * *
Callum never got to hear the rest of what I had to say to him. The gunshot that nearly killed him stopped our conversation short.
The second gunshot nearly killed me, narrowly missing my head by what must have been centimeters.
The gunman’s hand must have been shaking. That’s the only way he could have missed me from the short distance to the door where he was standing. That’s the only reason I’m alive now. Blind dumb luck.
The next bit of luck was that Shawn was close enough to get to the bedroom in the next five seconds with his gun and fire. Obviously a much better shot and a much cooler man under pressure, Shawn hit the man in the back of the neck with his first shot and killed him instantly just as he was taking aim at me again. The image of the blood spray and the man going down, his eyes lifeless and unmoving, will forever be imbedded in my mind.
It’s all I can think of now as I sit at the hospital, by my man’s bedside, watching him lie there on life support with his eyes closed with all manner of machines keeping him alive.
This is all my fault…
If I hadn’t been distracting him, bringing down his defenses at that precise moment, none of this would have happened. But because of me, he was focused on things other than being the strongest, fiercest man he could be. Because of me, he was focused on confessing his love and showing me that he could be tender and sweet. Because of me he’s lying there with a hole in him, with the doctors not even sure if he’ll wake up again.