Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
“I don’t eat all the time.” God, that makes me sound like a terrible person. “And I was tiny when I was born.”
“Still, I would like to take a look.” He smiles to reassure me. “It won’t take more than a couple of minutes.”
He has kind eyes, and he defended my right to choose even with it placing his head on the chopping block, so I go against my heart by nodding my head.
“Thank you.” He assists me onto the bed before requesting that I lift my dress. “This will keep your legs warm while I scan you.” He places a heated blanket on my legs. “Regretfully, I was only told about your appointment at the last minute, so I didn’t have time to heat the gel.”
He shakes the ultrasound gel until the goop inside falls into the nozzle, then he squirts it onto the flab at the bottom of my stomach.
“Sorry,” he murmurs a few seconds later. “Some babies like to hide, so we have to push a little harder to make sure we don’t miss them.”
He waves the wand back and forth for ages before he eventually stores it away. When he gestures for the unnamed man to join him next to the ultrasound machine, I slowly sit up.
I should have remained lying down when the unnamed man shouts, “What do you mean there’s no baby?”
Dr. Leonard peers at me apologetically before he brings up my scans on the monitor. “Her uterus is enlarged but empty. There are no signs of a gestational sac.”
I can’t tell one black-and-white image from the next, but the man has no trouble deciphering them. “Did you really think you could deceive us?” Something on my face must give away my shock as his anger soon shifts in another direction. “Henry only allowed the Bobrovs to stay because of his claims you have the Petrov blood. They debunked years ago, but Ravenshoe will always be their turf.”
I’m too shocked to speak. Luckily, because Dr. Leonard fills the silence with mind-numbing facts. “Your mother was mafia royalty, Katie. She left when she met your father, but he still had to pay her dues. It was only a couple of weeks out of the year, but it kept them in good graces with her family. He worked inventory at the docks during your formative years. It was scaled down to one-off jobs once you went to middle school.”
I am clueless as to what he is saying, except the part about my father working at the docks. “He didn’t work in insurance, did he?” Dr. Leonard and the stranger both shake their heads, but I keep my focus on Dr. Leonard since he is the more upfront of the two. “What happened?”
“When you were taken, your family was told you had been killed. Shortly after, your father lost the ability to follow orders. That never ends well.”
He’s not saying what I think he is, is he?
He isn’t implying my mother’s family took them out for not following orders. Surely, I am reading his reply wrong.
“To Henry, you never take down family. They’re protected by a covenant. So instead of killing his cousin, he withdrew his support. The Petrovs didn’t last a year.”
“Who is Henry?” Out of all the information I’m being bombarded with, his identity shouldn’t be my focus, but my curiosity is too perverse for me to ignore. His name keeps popping up like I should know who he is, but I have no clue which way is up, much less the identity of a man I’m certain I’ve never met.
“Henry Gottle,” the stranger answers. “The boss of all bosses and your great uncle.” After straying his eyes to the door Kirill is seated behind, he adds, “He is also the man he’s trying to play for a fool for the second time. Henry won’t let the Bobrovs run back to Russia with their tails between their legs this time around. He will kill them all.”
As much as I want Kirill to get his just desserts, Lera doesn’t deserve to be taken down with him. I’m still on the fence about Sofia. “You can’t do that. There are children involved.” The man doesn’t flinch in the slightest. “My child.” Dr. Leonard stares at me like he doesn’t believe me, but since I have no clue if he can read me as the liar I am, I continue on course. “Lera is my daughter. I gave birth to her shortly after arriving at Master Rudd’s compound.”
“Rudd?” When I nod at Dr. Leonard’s question, he answers the stranger’s silent question with words, “It is plausible. The baby farm was in full operation back then. Rudd let the women keep the defects.” His reply makes me queasy. He isn’t the saint I thought he was.
Then again, neither am I.