Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
The fighting goes on for a half hour. Helga tries to keep us calm by asking questions and making jokes. Very, very bad jokes, but given the situation, it’s better than nothing. The fighting sounds vicious, but slowly, the shooting slows and comes to a stop.
“Is it over?” I ask.
The nurse draws her gun. “I shall check.”
“Wait,” Kim says, shaking her head. “Stay here.”
Helga grunts, frowning, and shrugs. “If you wish.”
We wait a little while longer until there’s a knock. Helga aims her weapon roughly where a man’s head would be. “Yes?” she calls.
“It’s Julien. Everything’s safe.”
His voice. Definitely his voice. I run to the door and unlock it, despite Helga’s grumbling. Julien’s there, looking haggard, some blood splattered on his shirt and pants, but he says he’s okay as he swoops in and kisses me hard.
“Everyone’s safe here?” he asks.
“Nobody told me the nurse was packing heat,” Kim says with an awkward laugh.
“Nobody asked,” Helga says, standing straight.
“She’s former KSK,” Julien explains, and when we give him a blank stare, he smirks like a know-it-all. “German special forces. God, you Americans really need to read about countries other than your own.”
“She’s a commando?” I ask, staring open-mouthed. I thought Helga was just a hard-ass German, but that’s something else.
“You think I’d leave you in the care of anything less?” Julien kisses me again. “Come, I need to borrow you.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll explain on the way. Kim, Helga, you two stay here for now, please.”
“As if I can go anywhere.” Kim sighs and sinks back in her bed. “Helga, dear, would you come sit with me and tell me about all the secret missions you’ve gone on? How many men have you killed?”
Helga sits primly at her side. “Dozens. My dreams run red with their blood.”
“Excellent.”
I follow Julien from the room. Poor Helga might have special forces training, but I suspect nothing has prepared her for the interrogation she is about to receive from a bored and scared Kim.
The hallway outside is stained with blood. One dead man lies nearby, holes in his chest. I don’t recognize him. We walk through this wing, and Julien explains what happened.
It was a coup. He killed Henri himself, plus several more of Pascal’s guards. That’s what he calls Grandpère now, apparently: Pascal. It’s a shift, but I can understand why.
“He got away in the end. Escaped out a window. I don’t know where he is, but we’ll find him.” Julien pauses at the top of the staircase and takes my hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, but this plan came together last minute.”
“I’m just happy you’re okay.” I lean into him. “But what does this mean?”
“It means we’re on our own now. I no longer answer to France.”
A spear of nervous excitement runs through my guts as we descend together, hand in hand.
Downstairs, I find Ronan waiting with a couple of the important uncles and Niall. Julien greets them and the whole group moves into a large meeting room at the front of the house right off the front entryway.
Jean’s there, serving coffees.
“Looks like your little fight went well,” Ronan says once he’s settled. “Honestly, I didn’t know what to think when you first called.”
“Since we’re allies now, I thought I’d give you a heads-up.”
“A coup in the middle of a war.” Ronan doesn’t seem happy about it. “That’s not the smartest move you ever made.”
“It was necessary. My grandfather was making poor decisions, and if I had let him continue to interfere with my family—” Julien puts his hand on my knee at that word family. “—then I do not believe we would win this conflict.”
Ronan’s jaw works. “Still, a heads-up would have been nice.”
“Now we can deal with Dusan from a position of strength. I’ll need a few days to deal with my dead and wounded, and to deal with the fallout from all these bodies, but we’re in a good place now.”
Ronan looks from Julien to me and back again. I feel him notice Julien’s hand on my leg, and his jaw works like he’s chewing on the idea.
“Let me know what you need to clean this mess up.” He drinks his coffee and looks over to the window. “This fucking city. You’d think we’d have this figured out by now. Instead, here we are, still killing each other.”
“It’s the nature of who we are,” Julien says, speaking very softly. “We are not men who like to share, and the more of us there are, the more we still start to push up against each other. It’s only a matter of time before there’s bloodshed.”
“Still, it’s a big world. If we were smart, we’d work together.”
“Says a man with plenty of blood on his hands.”
Ronan grins, still looking out the window. “That’s true enough. I’m not innocent in all this. And yet—” He stops suddenly and starts frowning to him. “Did you call in for backup?”