Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“Hello? Mr. Rodriguez?”
The voice is unfamiliar, but it rings with an urgency that immediately raises my hackles. “Yes. How can I help you?” I ask.
“I’m Beth,” says the woman on the phone. “Beth Smith. I’m Abby’s sister. I think something bad happened to Abby. I can’t find her anywhere. Please, help.”
My heart immediately lodges in my throat as fear seized my whole being. I take in a deep calming breath. In situations like these, I know better than to give in to the rapidly spreading panic in my chest. I need to keep a clear head. “Calm down. Why do you think she’s in trouble?”
I hear Beth draw in a deep breath and release it with a small sob. “She called me last night. She was distressed, and I helped her calm down. I told her to sleep it off and make things right tomorrow. Today that is. I left the hospital early this morning to check on her, and she wasn’t home. Her room is in disarray like there was a scuffle in there. And her phone was on the ground, broken. I... I don’t know what to do.”
I snatch my car keys off the table on my way out. “Don’t worry, Beth. I’ll find her,” I tell the distraught sister. “I gifted her a necklace that has a GPS tracker. I’ll send you the coordinates. After that, you call the cops.”
I slide into my car and take a deep breath, but it does nothing to calm the storm brewing inside me. “Damn! Damn! Damn!” I mutter, hitting the steering with my fist. I open the glove compartment and close my hand over the small pistol lying there.
I take it out and check if it’s loaded. It is. I place it back and pull out of my driveway at a neck-breaking speed.
The GPS leads me to an empty warehouse, thirty minutes out of town. I walk slowly toward the entrance, gun cocked and drawn. I push the door, and it gives way. My heart tightens painfully at the sight that greets my eyes.
Abby is seated on a chair in a corner, sobbing quietly. Cross stands beside her, holding a gun to her head. He smirks at me, seeming unsurprised at my presence.
“You’re finally here, Drago,” Cross says in a mocking tone. “You took longer than I expected.”
“Carlos,” Abby sobs.
“Let her go, Cross,” I say, holding his hard gaze with mine. “Your business is with me.” I avoid looking at Abby, less I give in to the crazy urge to shoot Cross in the end.
Cross snorts amused. “You’re right, Cuz,” he says with a simple shrug. “But your woman’s got unfinished business with my partner.”
I stiffen when I suddenly feel the cold muzzle of a gun behind my head.
“I knew you’d come running to save her,” draws an unbelievably familiar voice. I don’t have to turn around to tell whom the voice belongs to.
“Mandy? What the hell?”
Mandy pushes the gun against my head. “Drop your gun, Drago. Slowly. Cross doesn’t have a problem blowing off your bitch’s head if you try to play smart, do you, Cross?”
“Of course not,” Cross replies with a careless shrug. “I’m dying to do it.”
I slowly bend over, my free hand raising in surrender until I drop the gun on the ground. Mandy kicks the gun toward Cross, who picks it up.
“You two are working together?” I ask, still reeling from the surprise of being betrayed by my trusted assistant. It all makes sense now I guess– how I was easily infiltrated. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I love you, damn it,” Mandy replies, coming to stand in front of me with her gun still drawn. “I was going to give you one last chance tonight if you hadn’t come for this bitch. I thought setting you up with Diane would knock some senses into her, but it wasn’t enough. She was going to come back to you. I think she needs to die for me to push the point across. You’re mine.”
“How long have you two been working together?” I ask, rapidly calculating our chances of escape in my head. I just need to keep them talking until the cops get here.
“From the very beginning,” Cross replies. “She approached me about my production before you did. She was going to connect me with buyers across the world for a fair cut. But then you started your plans to eradicate my drugs, and we couldn’t have that. The first attack was meant to slow you down until we finalized our plans. I planned to kill you, but Mandy wouldn’t hear of it. She fancies herself in love with you.”
“I saved your life, and how did you pay me back?” Mandy asks, scoffing loudly. “You chose that ugly fat bitch over me, who’s been by your side for years. That was why I tried to kill you myself.”