Series: The Circle of Monsters Series by Sam Crescent
Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 210(@200wpm)___ 168(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 210(@200wpm)___ 168(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
“I don’t know anything.”
“You know something, or you saw something.”
“Please, let me go.” She hated the fact she was starting to cry. Whenever her emotions went haywire, the tears came, and she hated looking so weak.
Right now, she didn’t feel weak. She felt angry. No, she was pissed off. That’s what she was. She was just a nanny, trying to make the lives of children easier, helping parents. The last thing she ever wanted to see was someone being murdered, or hearing their screams. She’d have to relive that night for the rest of her life.
That evil bastard was alone with his son and daughter. She had wanted to go and get them, to run, but she knew she’d been seen, and now there was no way out for her.
“I never should have taken that job.” She slammed her hand against the front dash.
“The car is not at fault.”
“It was too good to be true but I took it anyway. Earning six figures a year to take care of two of the nicest kids. Now I know exactly what their father is capable of.”
“Hold on. Kids?”
“Yes, kids.”
“What are you? A mistress?” Galen asked.
Skye snorted. That would have been hilarious. Her employer, or ex-employer now, had been good-looking, but she didn’t like him that way. There was something in his eyes that had repulsed her and now she knew what.
“Hell, no, I never had sex with him.” She was a virgin and twenty-five years old, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. He wouldn’t believe her.
Dating men, talking with them, didn’t come naturally to her. They were like an alien species, and she didn’t go out of her way to get attached to them.
“Then what the hell are you?”
“Besides being a woman who very much wants to live, I’m a nanny.”
Silence filled the car. She loved being a nanny and those kids, whenever their father wasn’t around, were the sweetest pair she’d ever gotten the privilege of knowing.
“You’re a fucking nanny? You don’t smuggle drugs? Guns?”
“I don’t cheat. I don’t steal. I’m honest about everything. I love kids.” She growled. “Now my life is a complete mess.”
Chapter Two
Galen drove her to Viko’s oceanfront office. He had half a dozen meeting places around the city, but this was his boss’s favorite. Come to think of it, he’d never seen Viko’s home. They always met off-site at different locations.
“What is this place?” Skye asked.
He turned off the car then shifted in his seat to focus on her. Damn, she looked too young and innocent to be next to a man like him. If anything, she’d fit in walking the halls of a college campus. Anything but here.
“My boss was hired to kill you and I was tasked to fulfill that contract. He doesn’t ask many questions of the people paying him and doesn’t care who’s right or wrong. So, now that the cards have changed in your favor, I suggest you keep your mouth shut in there. Resist the temptation to argue because he’s not a very patient man.”
Viko wanted him to bring the girl in, and he’d complied. Once he dropped her off, he could wash his hands of this fucked-up contract and pick up a new one. Anything to keep his mind busy. First, he’d grab some lunch, but the night was young.
“What’s going to happen?”
She sounded like a scared little girl.
“Not my problem, sweetheart. I brought you here, and now you’re his problem.”
He got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, and opened her door.
Once she stood up, she stayed rooted in place. “You’re going to leave me?”
“That’s the plan.”
“But you saved me. Your boss might kill me.”
He chuckled, forcing her aside so he could close the car door. “He’s the one who stilled my hand. Trust me, I wanted to finish my job.”
“But you feel differently now, right? You know I’m innocent.”
He shrugged as he walked toward the modern piece of architecture ahead of them. It was abstract with a lot of glass and sharp edges—not his style. “Innocent or not is never an issue.”
“What is?”
“Money.”
Her eyes were narrowed as if offended by the notion.
“No one is that evil.”
“Maybe not in your circles, but your eyes are about to be opened,” he said.
Galen pushed the buzzer beside the front doors, and they opened within seconds. There were cameras everywhere, monitoring every angle, near and far. Viko trusted no one.
She grabbed his arm, surprising him. “Please,” she whispered harshly. The lobby of the office was deafeningly quiet, no sign of anyone inside. “Don’t leave me here.”
“Not my call.”
“I know you’re not an animal,” she said. “Even someone like you must have a heart.”
“Someone like me?”
“Well, you’re a murderer, aren’t you?”
“I prefer ‘contract worker’. Has a better ring to it, no?”
“Whatever. I don’t belong here. Tell my old boss I have no plans to run to the cops. I don’t want any trouble. I just want to be left alone,” she said.