Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
His warning was fruitless, but I’d pretend to heed it anyway. There was no way in hell I was giving up Mian and Caylen to him, and if he were a smart man, he knew that.
“Don’t worry, Senator. As long as you have what belongs to me you’ll leave here alive,” I lied.
“Good, son. I don’t want bloodshed any more than you.” That was where he was wrong. I wanted his blood spilled at my feet, and if it was with my last breath, I’d have it.
“I’ll see you tonight.” I hung up without waiting for his response.
“So, what’s the word?” Lucas demanded.
“He wants to meet in the cemetery tonight to trade the book for Mian.”
“Do you trust him?” Z questioned.
“No, and that’s exactly why we’re going to be ready.”
“Why would he meet you here? This is your turf. Trapping him will be easy.”
“Exactly, which means he has something up his sleeve. Call Augustine and anyone else we don’t have a choice but to trust. Tonight, we make war.”
Chapter Twenty
MIAN
I WAS A fool. A humiliated, naïve fool. For a moment, I thought he’d choose me. Finally… irrevocably. Instead, he said nothing and left me to bear the weight of his rejection.
I found Caylen asleep in his crib and Anna nowhere to be found. I was torn between finding her and hiding. She could be tempting fate with Lucas at this moment, but I couldn’t bring myself to risk facing my own source of anguish.
It didn’t matter, though. Minutes later, a soft knock came. I opened one of the doors to find her on the other side looking like a doe staring down the barrel of a shotgun.
“Anna? What’s going on?” I pulled her inside and then fruitlessly locked the door.
“If you leave Angel, his family will kill you.” I felt the acidic feeling of doom in my gut. “Did you know?”
Sighing, I sat on the bed and stared at the wooden planks of the floor. “I didn’t know for sure, but I suspected that maybe it was a little more complicated than he let on.”
“A little complicated? Mian, how can you be this calm? You’re trapped!”
I shot to my feet defensively. “I’m terrified, Anna, but that’s just what they need.” I shook my head. “I won’t give them that.”
“You’ll never be anything but a pawn if you stay in this family.”
“I’ll be a threat if I leave. I’m safer where I am.”
“Because that’s what Angel told you? Since when do you trust him?”
I wanted to confess that I never stopped being Angel’s fool, but I wasn’t ready to face the truth. “I don’t have a choice. My father took my choice from me when he married me into this family.”
“Are you sure your father did this? Angel could be lying to you.”
Shrugging, I realized how much I believed he did. I had been holding tight onto the trust I had in my father, but at some point, I let go. One day, I’d confront him, but I knew once I did, and I had the truth, I could never forgive him.
We stayed hidden and talked about everything except Angel, legacies, and my father until Caylen awoke and began crying for food. We didn’t run into the guys on the way to the kitchen, but we did run into a long, muscular figure dressed in black and leaning down to peer into the fridge.
His hair was midnight black from what I could see, his skin tan, and the hand grasping the top of the door large and capable-looking.
“Oh, my God,” Anna gasped excitedly in my ear. “Who is that?”
Leave it to her to have an instant crush on a perfect stranger. The stranger’s head lifted and turned from inside the fridge, allowing us to see his emerald-colored eyes. His eyebrow quirked when he found us staring from inside the doorway, and then his gaze passed over us slowly. First, Anna, then Caylen, and finally settling on me. He then pushed the door closed and leaned a powerful shoulder against the stainless steel with a grin. “Hello, kids,” he greeted condescendingly. “You must be Mian, Anna, and Caylen.”
“How do you know our names?” Anna’s voice was full of awe as she devoured the full sight of him.
“I make it a point to know everything.” God, this man must have a serious god complex.
“But you can’t know everything.” She giggled. I was stupefied. They’ve barely met, yet she was completely taken with him.
“Only what matters,” he replied, turning up the charm.
“Who are you?” I had questioned before my friend had a chance to fall in love.
“For once, reality isn’t reduced to hype,” he observed but left the meaning mysterious. “I’m Augustine, Angel’s cousin.”
“I’m Anna. This is Mian, and that’s her son, Caylen,” she offered unnecessarily.
His smile was indulgent as he said, “I know.”
“Oh.” She giggled again. “Right.” I rolled my eyes, which he didn’t miss if the smirk was anything to go by.