Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 142939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“We’re definitely not talking about the cat.”
Carina folds her arms over her chest. “Did you see how my brother came to you when he got home? He was all over you. It was gross but also sweet.” A dreamy expression takes over her face, but it’s fleeting. Her anger comes back with a vengeance. “You know what I got? Gilly muttering something to me about him putting a password on the computer if he has to.” Carina paces back and forth. “And I know it was him who took my phone.”
“Your phone?” She’s so all over the place, I’m having trouble following her.
“Yes, I had it hidden.” She groans. “I asked my brother, and he had no clue what I was talking about but said I didn’t need a phone since I was home, so it had to be Gilly. The man ignores me but makes sure I’m locked up tight.”
“That doesn’t sound like he’s ignoring you,” I point out.
“He’s doing his job, which is being at my brother's side.”
“Isn’t that kind of a good thing?”
“No, I mean yes.” Even as she says yes, she shakes her head no. “I don’t know.” She throws her hands up.
“Angel!” Antonio bellows my name.
“Carina!” Gilly shouts next.
“See? He’s not ignoring you.” I point my thumb over my shoulder toward the door. Carina’s eyes widen, her head cocking to the side.
“Get down!” she suddenly screams as she runs toward the side of her bed.
“Angel!” Antonio shouts my name again.
Carina jerks open her nightstand drawer. I watch as she pulls out a gun, sliding a clip inside of it before she cocks it.
“What’s happening?”
“Down!” Carina shouts at me again as the window beside her bed explodes into the room. Shards of glass shoot everywhere. Carina spins around to face the window and fires as a man tries to climb through it. She hits her target, causing him to drop back out the window. Holy crap, she’s a good shot.
An arm wraps around me from behind. I start to swing my elbow, but Antonio whispers my name in my ear as my feet leave the floor.
“Get my sister!” Antonio tells Gilly, but he’s already grabbing her. Carina fires two more shots.
“Don’t touch me, you big jerk! I can take care of myself. I’m invisible to you, remember.”
“Not now,” Gilly growls at her, ignoring her words and tossing her over his shoulder.
“I’ve got a gun. I could shoot you right in the ass.”
“There’s glass everywhere, and your feet are bare,” I hear him tell her as sounds of more gun fire go off from outside.
“Antonio? What’s happening?”
He pulls me out of Carina’s bedroom and toward another bedroom. One I know because he’s shown it to me before. Taught me what it’s used for and how to use it.
“Butcher just accelerated our timeline to deal with your father.” Antonio puts me on my feet as he slides the bookcase in what looks like a spare bedroom to the side before entering in the code on the keypad. The door to the safe room pops open.
“What do you mean?” Antonio pulls me into the small room.
“He went and got your sister.”
“Really?” I gasp. “Like just walked in and got her?” Is that even possible? Why would he do that? Alone? How is he not dead? “Where is she now?”
“You stay in this room until I come and get you.” Antonio says, not answering any of my questions.
Gilly and Carina bicker back and forth about her not going into the safe room. “I don’t need your ‘worry’!” She does air quotes with a gun still in her hand. “Because it’s your job.”
“Get in the fucking room, Carina, or so help me God, brother or not, I’ll tan your little ass.” Gilly picks her up by the hips and places her in the room.
“Angel. Stay here, no matter what you see or hear. Got it?” Antonio draws my attention back to him.
“Where is my sister? Tell me, and I’ll stay put.” What if she’s out there in all this gun fire and whatever is happening?
“With Butcher,” he answers, but for some reason I have a feeling he’s not telling me everything.
“He won’t hurt her, will he?”
“No,” he responds before placing a hard kiss on my lips and stepping back.
“Antonio, I love you,” I say before he can close the door.
Gilly lifts his gun and starts firing. My heart sinks when a bullet flies by Antonio and Gilly as he slams the door shut. Carina rushes to it and starts engaging the extra bolts. When she turns back around, tears are streaming down her face.
“What’s happening?” I ask her.
“War.”
21
ANTONIO
Once I know Carina is safe, I rush to the second-floor armory in the back of my closet. Gilly’s already there with the doors open.
“How many of our men arrived before the Larones?” I ask.