Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“I’ve already sent a car,” he tells me. “I need you right now.”
Despite the circumstances, my chest whelms with warmth. He needs me.
“I’m here for you.”
I always will be.
“Do you want me to bring anything?”
The question seems ridiculous the moment I ask it, as if there’s anything I could grab from the apartment he can’t get for himself. When he replies, there’s a smile in his voice. “Just yourself. That’s all I need. Just you, Ami.”
I hang up the phone, closing my eyes momentarily, dozens, hundreds of future family scenes sparkling across my imagination. Then Loki and Ollie return, and ugly things pop up instead. I change my clothes quickly, then walk downstairs to the car.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Thomas
I’m pacing the bloody office, thoughts of Loki on my mind.
Ollie made a mistake when he killed that shop owner, but I’ve always believed it was a reflex, a reaction he couldn’t control. Now I’m thinking about him sadistically pulling the trigger and what that means for my dog. If Ollie is an evil bastard, it means Loki is in the worst situation he could be in. It means there’s so much pain… No, I can’t go there.
I’m at my office, not Realization Global’s, so I’m surprised when George walks in, his lean features folded into a frown. He’s got his hands on his hips as he walks over to me.
“You didn’t have to come,” I tell him. “I only mentioned it so you’d know why I might miss squash tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah, but you’re my mate, and you’d be getting out lucky, anyway. I’m tired of kicking your arse on the court.”
“Ha bloody ha,” I say. “Don’t forget who won last week.”
He grins tightly, nodding, then says, “I’m sorry, mate. This is just awful.”
“Some people would say He’s just a dog, but I know what he’s like. I know where he came from. For months, I had to train him on that slip leash. Time and time again, he’d go mental if he saw another dog. He’d explode like there was this fire in him.”
George looks at me, wondering if we’re talking about me or the dog.
“But finally, he learned to calm down. Just enough to be happy, and now all that could be ruined. Fuck.”
“Have you contacted the dog sitter yet?”
“No answer.”
There’s a knock at the door, followed by Steve’s voice.
“Come in,” I tell him.
“The dog sitter is with one of our men now.”
“And?”
“No Loki, but she’s in pieces, sir. Oliver threatened her niece. He had photos outside the girl’s house and everything.”
“That piece of filth,” I growl. “I’m going to wring his neck.”
I return to my previous thought. He’s sicker than I ever realized.
Steve touches his earpiece. “Sir, Miss Brown is here.”
“Send her up now.”
George glances at me, a question in his eyes, but he waits until Steve is gone to ask it. “Are things going well, then?”
“I want her, mate,” I say, my voice raw with honesty. “I want to spend the rest of my life with her and to be her husband. I know it, deep down. It’s like an instinct—something I don’t have to question. It’s just there. It’s just true.”
George smiles. “I believe you.”
“You don’t think I’m mad?”
“I didn’t say that.”
We laugh.
I kiss Amelia tenderly when she arrives, then hold her, looking down into her eyes. Her hair is tied up, showing her neck, the perfect place for kissing. She’s wearing a white shirt and black pants, professional and fierce.
“Hello, sir,” she says once we’ve embraced, nodding at George.
George chuckles. “No need for that here.”
“Was—”
She cuts off, but I can read her.
“It’s okay. You can ask.”
“Was I really the best candidate?”
George beams. “By far.”
She looks up at me, eyes filled with emotion. “He’s going to be okay.”
“He better bloody be, but what’s wrong, Ami?”
George drifts to the coffee machine near the window, giving us privacy.
“It’s nothing,” she says.
“What’s wrong, baby?” I hug her close to me, staring intensely into her eyes. “And don’t tell me nothing.”
“Have you seen the photo?”
I smirk. “Outside Buckingham? I think we make a great couple.”
“The whole world knows we’re together now.”
“Good, let them. I’m proud of you.”
She beams so beautifully, her cheeks flushed, but then she purses those pretty lips again. “Mom and Dad know about us. I spoke to them before I came here.”
“And what’s the verdict?”
She swallows. “Dad thinks maybe you’re just with me for you-know-what. Mom’s happy and supportive, I’d say, but they both… It doesn’t matter, not now.”
“It does matter. You must stop thinking that, Ami, or I’ll get mad.”
“American mad?”
I grin. “Yeah, bloody angry.”
“They want to speak to you,” she says.
“What’s the problem with that?”
“I just didn’t know. Would you speak to them?”
“I’ll do it right now,” I say.
“No, Loki…”
“I need to take my mind off that,” I say fiercely. “I’ve got twenty men scouring the city for signs of him, or we’ll wait until Ollie decides to contact us. There’s nothing else we can do. Sometimes, in business, in life, waiting is the only option.”