Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“No. I want the list.”
“I said I would quit!” Adrien yelled. “I’ll retire. I’ll give you all the money I’ve earned—”
“That offer has expired, Adrien.”
“Fuck you,” he snapped.
“Fuck me?” the man asked. “Take her to the car, boys. And don’t forget the shovels.”
Oh shit. My body was still paralyzed. As hard as I tried to move my hands and legs, nothing happened. I could hardly blink. But I was able to move my lips, and I said the one thing that might save my life. “Bastien…”
Adrien heard me because he immediately looked at me.
The guys lifted me from the floor. I was scooped into someone’s arms.
I couldn’t fight the hold, even when my heart raced in fear. I was carried to the car that was on the property and laid across the back seat. One of the guys pulled out another needle to inject into my skin to keep me asleep.
With my last burst of energy, I said the only thing that might spare my life. “Bastien…”
Chapter 15
Bastien
I walked down the line and examined the containers of drugs, properly sealed so they could pass the border check inconspicuously. I picked one at random and set it on the scale to check the weight. It matched the amount on the sheet, so I knew no one was skimming anything. I returned it to the line and nodded to Horace. “Get it ready for shipment.” I moved back to the table where the laptop was open. “Let’s do the transfer.” I logged in to the encrypted account and then turned the laptop toward Scott.
He entered the information and the total and then sent it before he slid the laptop back to me.
I checked that the cash was there and then turned it back to him so he could make his second payment. I didn’t wait for the government to pay me out of their tariffs because I took my own. A lot of people didn’t like it, but that was too fucking bad.
My phone rang in my pocket, and I checked it right away in case Fleur needed me.
It was Adrien.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket and ignored him.
Scott pushed the laptop back to me. “We’re done here.”
“Luca will meet you at the warehouse and take over the shipment.” Luca got the international product to the docks so we could ship it to the Middle East and Asia. It was a whole enterprise, and it wouldn’t be possible without the cooperation of our government.
My phone rang again, and I checked it.
It was Adrien—again.
“Asshole.” I shoved it back into my pocket. Shit had probably gone down with Oscar, and now he wanted my help.
Nope. He was on his own.
I left the table and passed the line of workers who continued to process the batch of drugs that would go out in the next shipment in five days. When I’d arrived, it wasn’t raining, but when I headed back to the vehicle, it was pouring. I walked through the rain and felt my shirt grow damp before I got into the back seat.
My phone vibrated with a message.
I pulled it out and looked at the screen, hoping it was Fleur even though it wouldn’t be, not when she would be asleep at her apartment.
It was Adrien.
He has Fleur
He’s gonna kill her
Fucking help me
Call me
These messages were popping up nonstop.
The alarm that shot through me was like an explosion inside my chest. My heart and lungs were ripped to pieces. I didn’t understand the words, even though his message was clear. I didn’t scream or shout, turned eerily calm like I always did when shit got serious. I called him and put the phone to my ear. “Head to Adrien’s,” I told the driver.
Adrien picked up right away. “Oscar said he’s going to bury her alive. I don’t know where he took her. He left a phone with a camera that shows her in a coffin.”
“Where?”
“I—I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me—”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know. He left.”
I hung up and called Oscar.
It rang and rang and rang. “Pick up, asshole.” It went to voice mail. I immediately called again, but all it did was ring.
It was intentional.
I called Luca.
He picked up right away. “I haven’t received—”
“I need to find Oscar now. Call in all our favors. I want Oscar, and I’ll pay ten million to the first person to tell me where the fuck he is.”
Luca hesitated. “What happened—”
“He’s gonna kill Fleur if I don’t find her. Now do it.”
I barged into the house and found Adrien sitting on the coffee table—sobbing like a little girl. “They took her. They fucking took her—”
I noticed the phone on the table next to him, the screen lit up with a video. I brought it to my face and saw Fleur lying in a coffin, her eyes closed like she was drugged. The camera had night vision, so I could see her in the pitch dark. There was no time to be emotional about what I saw, even though it fucking killed me. “She’s alive.” I’d seen enough dead people to know the difference. “And she’s still under.” She wouldn’t have to know that she was buried six feet underground. “Come on, let’s go.”