Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51889 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51889 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“See you in three days,” Alexei said as my cousins took their leave, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead one by one as they passed by me. I watched them go, then turned to look at Vice. He looked calm. Maybe even happy? He also looked like he wasn’t a rush to throw me into the car and take off for parts unknown, which had been the original plan.
“Wait, we aren’t leaving?” I asked, utterly confused.
“We are. Just not immediately.”
“Why not? I don’t understand.”
“We are meeting them down the coast a bit. We can leave tomorrow.”
“You trust them?” I asked incredulously.
“Believe it or not, I do,” he said in that impossibly gruff voice of his.
And that was that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Vice
“Please explain to me why are we not driving far, far away?”
I glanced at the girl in the passenger seat as I drove back to the safe house. While the Aslanov’s did not know it’s exact location, she was right that it was no longer safe. The town itself was not all that large and even a remote place like this would not remain undiscovered for long.
Regardless of all of that, we were spending the night here. I had work to do. And I was now coordinating with the damned Russians, so the idea that they would show up guns blazing was a bit of a stretch.
Not to mention it would take them a whole fucking lot more than twelve hours to pinpoint our location. They had brought ten or so men, not fifty. We would take the long way down the coast to the meet up place, which was another risk. Another exposure.
But we had no choice but to trust them. I would not subject her to a life on the run. It was too little for a remarkable human like her. She would not live in the shadows or out of a suitcase if I had anything to say about it, no matter what the cost.
If they held up their end of the bargain, it would be everything. Her life. Her freedom. And I would gain the greatest prize of all.
Her.
Anastasia did not know it yet, but she was about to become my bride.
That meant if I kept her happy, and I intended to, I could hold her for the rest of my life. I could see her. Smell her. Touch her. Make love to her.
Just the thought of making her mine sent indescribable sensations through my body. Not just temporarily mine, either. I would be claiming her for life.
Goddamn, but that sounded like a miracle. I had never dreamed of any kind of life like that. It meant I had to step it up. With her there, all my ideas of what I wanted or needed expanded.
She would need safety, beauty, comfort, protection, and guidance. I needed to provide all of that. And I would.
I had saved money for most of my life. Not because of any sense of fiscal responsibility. I just made a fuck ton more than I spent. I wasn’t fancy, like my lady.
I had an extremely specialized set of skills and I was paid well for them. Cain had it set up so I had a retirement fund, and had nudged me into getting a high yield savings account as well as a normal checking. So I had cash.
I suddenly had the urge to make a whole lot more. Having a woman like Anastasia in my life was motivating. My future wife was used to the ultimate in luxury. I knew she didn’t care about all of that. She had eased into living in the rental house, which was pretty damned nice, but not a villa in the South of France by any stretch of the imagination.
I wanted the white picket fence for her, and the villa. Vacations, safety, beautiful things to make her happy. I wanted to give her everything I had and more. I wanted to become a man who could give her the world on a platter.
And by God, I fucking would.
First, I had to get her gorgeous little ass down the aisle.
I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to accomplish that without freaking her out. Or getting murdered by the mafia. Or letting someone else snatch her up in the interim.
I sighed and texted the guys in a group chat. Preacher was already on standby. The rest of it we could figure out together. It had to be nice. Beautiful. Memorable.
But most of all, it had to be safe.
At the moment, however, I had to talk Anastasia out of ringing my neck for being foolish.
If only she knew, I thought with a grimace.
“I left some stuff behind.”
“I thought you packed everything up.”
“I packed everything essential up. I didn’t want to make it too obvious that we were gone in case someone came looking while we were at the meet up.”