Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“What are your plans for today?” I asked.
Cassie still hadn’t returned to the MC, while Rage had left to deal with club business. The guy who’d been shot at the French restaurant had been a Demon supporter. A man who’d wanted to see the end of the Volkov Bratva, and wanted to take back more territory.
Rage had said he’d gone missing a couple of months ago. He didn’t suspect the guy turning traitor on the club, but here he was. I’d been so pissed off that he had put Charlotte’s life at risk, I’d punched him in the face. Rage had responded by hitting me back, and as we went to go at each other, Ivan stepped between us. He’d threatened to tear us both a new one if we didn’t shut the fuck up and deal with the problem at hand.
Hank still wasn’t talking, so I’d been giving him some of my special treatment for the past couple of weeks. Not only had we slowly withdrawn food, until I hadn’t fed him for two days. We were also depriving him of sleep. Vlad was taking turns with my men to keep the guy awake.
It wouldn’t be long before he cracked and told me everything I needed to know. As for Benjamin, he seemed to have disappeared, the fucking coward. There was also no sign of the Irish. Now this was new. One of their men was dead, and they hadn’t come to retaliate. Did they not know that every time they didn’t react normally, it told us they were up to something?
Down at the docks, there was no suspicious activity. However, Victor Abdulov was arriving any day now, as he’d been dealing with the cartel as well.
I didn’t want Victor in my territory, not with Oleg’s still exposed. Ivan was in talks with The Butcher and The Beast, and I knew it wouldn’t end well if he decided between the two of them. They were equal when it came to kills.
“Cassie and I are planning to go shopping,” Charlotte said, drawing my attention back to me. “I, er, I wanted to ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“Ivan said I needed to start shopping for a honeymoon.”
This was news to me. Yes, Ivan did say Charlotte and I were to take a honeymoon, but then shit hit the fan real fucking quick. I couldn’t leave my territory until I had resolved the Hank and Benjamin problem.
“He did?”
“Yes. Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.
I rubbed at my eyes.
“I’ve annoyed you?”
“No, you haven’t annoyed me. Ivan likes to meddle. I don’t know when we’re going to be able to go on a honeymoon. Do you even want to go or is this something Ivan’s cooking up?” I asked.
“I’d like to go,” she said. “I mean, if you’d like to go with me. I don’t want to go on a honeymoon by myself, but only when you’re ready, and of course, like I said, if you want to go. Do you want to go with me?”
“Yes, I do,” I said. Yeah, that was a real fucking surprise to me as well. I actually wanted to spend time with my wife. It was unexpected. I had started to look forward to seeing her. No woman had ever left me feeling that way. This was all new to me.
Charlotte’s smile lit up her whole face and she moved a little closer to me. Damn, did she even realize how pretty she was?
Why the fuck was I thinking this shit? I wasn’t the lovey-dovey kind of guy. I killed shit for a living. Maybe I just needed a good fuck. It had been too long since I last had one. Before I’d met Charlotte. Before we’d kidnapped her. No other woman appealed to me.
I figured it was because of work and dealing with all the repercussions and stuff. Charlotte was too young. I was a forty-year-old fucking man. I’d never been attracted to young women.
Charlotte reached out and touched my cheek. Why did I like this touch so much? Her caresses weren’t tutored. They weren’t sure. She was nervous, I understood that. She wasn’t used to being near men. She was still a virgin and that shouldn’t turn me on but it did.
“Can I kiss you?” she asked.
“You don’t need to ask permission.”
Her gaze dropped to my lips.
“Will you kiss me back?”
“If you want me to.”
She nodded her head and nibbled her lip. “I’d like that.”
I knew this girl was messed up. Her dad and the people who were meant to love her had done a number on her. Cassie had visited me at the casino and tried to tell me that Charlotte was falling in love with me but she was afraid. I didn’t know exactly what she was afraid of. There was no way anyone was taking me away. No one would ever take me from Charlotte. Just like there was no need to be afraid because she wasn’t going anywhere.