Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I glanced over at Storm, who had taken himself to bed, curled up tight in a little ball.
We weren’t supposed to leave him alone in the hotel room. That was the rule. But what the employees didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them, right? He was always a good, quiet boy when he was alone.
“No, no, sugar,” Miko said as I walked determinedly toward the two of them as they went into the doorway.
“Unless you plan to gag and bind me, I’d like to see you try to stop me,” I said, pushing through the two of them and into the hall.
“Christ,” Miko hissed.
Neo’s little chuckle suggested he enjoyed seeing his unflappable older brother flustered.
“Sugar,” Miko tried again in the elevator. “If you get so much as a fucking hangnail while with me, Silvano is gonna fucking slit my throat, dig a deep hole, and bury my body in it. And I have plans to find me a sweet girl and make a half a dozen babies. Can’t be doing that in a dirt bath.”
“Then I won’t get a hangnail,” I said, moving out of the elevator as we got to the lobby, leaving them to rush to catch up.
They surprisingly didn’t put up much of a fight as we all piled into Miko’s car, then drove a short distance away from the hotel, parking on a backroad, so the guys could talk about guns, bullets, and night vision.
I paid attention as well as I could but it was getting harder and harder to hear my own thoughts over the whooshing of my blood in my ears.
“And you,” Miko said, turning to look at me, pinning me with a firm glance. “Are keeping your pretty ass in the car, you hear me?”
“I hear you,” I agreed, nodding, ignoring the way Nero pressed his lips together and looked away, knowing exactly what I was saying. And what I wasn’t saying.
I hear you. But I’m not listening.
“I’m gonna leave the keys in the ignition,” Miko went on as we drove toward the cabin’s road. “And you are gonna climb from the back into the front seat. You’re gonna keep your head down. Then, if anything, and I mean fucking anything, seems like it’s going sideways, you haul the fuck out of here. Then speed your ass back to the city, find Cosimo, and explain. You got it, sugar?” he asked, but his voice was tense now.
“I got it,” I agreed as he suddenly cut the lights, then drove mostly blind down the road toward the cabin.
We were getting close when we heard it.
Pop pop pop.
Gunshots.
My heart seized in my chest, panic making me feel goosebumpy yet overheated somehow at the same time.
Miko and Nero shared a look, then threw open their doors, and rushed out.
But not before Nero very carefully placed a gun on top of the center console.
I watched them run, their night vision making them nimble as they flew into the pitch-black woods.
I waited maybe a beat or two before I climbed over into the driver’s seat like I said I would.
But I didn’t just stay low and wait.
I inched the car slowly, very slowly, back down toward the cabin.
I really wasn’t even in my right mind as I kept hearing gunshots, as I kept imagining one or more of them hitting Silvano, taking him from me.
Then, out of nowhere, I saw him.
Well, I saw… someone.
But something inside of me knew it was him.
And I watched as he lost his footing, as he fell.
I never moved so fast in my entire life. Not even when I was trying to run from Neeley. Not even to save my own life.
I grabbed the gun, threw open the door, and ran.
My heart dropped as I watched another man appear, gun raised, as Silvano was still down, still vulnerable, unaware.
I didn’t stop to think.
I couldn’t.
I just let my finger slide to the trigger.
And then I pulled and pulled and pulled.
And watched as the man jolted, then fell.
And didn’t get back up.
Honestly, I wasn’t really aware of much after that.
Like I saw Silvano get up, moving toward me slowly like I was some scared, wounded animal.
I guess I was.
I didn’t even feel the panic as Neeley appeared, as he held up a gun, clearly having the advantage.
I felt like I was physically there, but far away mentally and emotionally. I couldn’t seem to muster up any worries. Or any thoughts at all.
Until there was another pop.
And another.
And another.
I was sure Neeley had shot Silvano.
But, no.
He was still standing in front of me.
Then, all of a sudden, he was turning, grabbing me, and crushing me against his chest.
“You’re okay. It’s okay,” he said, voice coming from far away. “Are you?” he asked when I couldn’t seem to say anything, just standing there stiffly, my body still trembling with unspent adrenaline. “Mills, are you?” he asked.