Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
“So you can stab me?” he quips, and a hint of a smile briefly makes his lips twitch. “No.”
So he wants to watch?
Damn this guy.
I suck in a breath and waltz to the toilet, staring him down for another second before I pull down my underwear and sit on the seat in the blink of an eye. But not fast enough, it seems, because he clearly looked, judging from the glint in his eyes and the tongue dipping out to lick the seam of his lips again. And I am struggling to keep the blush at bay.
He keeps looking at me, and for a second, I contemplate holding my pee. But I have to go so badly. I’ve held it all night and can’t do it anymore.
So I let it out even though he never stops watching me.
The relief is instant, but it’s instantly replaced by shame.
No one has ever watched me like this while I do my private business.
Let alone the fact that he’s looking at me like he wants to either kill me or eat me up like a snack.
I swallow away the nerves and clean up as best I can without revealing too much of myself, but it’s hard to do so with my legs closed tightly. The thought of him watching makes it hard for me to focus. I never once imagined someone could watch me like that, let alone the fact that it’s an actual killer.
Not that anyone has ever looked at me.
Especially not a man as buff as him.
I clear my throat and get up, slipping my underwear back on so I can quickly pat down my black dress and pretend nothing happened.
Then I approach him while trying not to make a hasty move that’ll set him off. He stays put against the doorpost, his eyes on me like a hawk as I come to stand in front of him.
“Can I at least go back into the room?”
“We’re leaving,” he says.
I frown. “Oh …”
Wherever he’s taking me, it can’t be good.
I have to try to get out of this.
“Like I said, my father is wealthy. Maybe he can arrange something, and—”
“Hands,” he interrupts.
I don’t dare to defy him. Not when I know he’s got that knife in his pocket, ready to use at any moment. He’d be able to kill me in a blink of an eye. He’s done it before with my father’s guards. One after the other, they all fell like mere flies in his way.
This man is not someone you mess with if you’re not willing to risk your life.
And I definitely want to stay alive.
So I raise my hands.
He pulls another tie wrap from his pocket and flicks it over my wrists, sealing them together, and my pulse quickens.
“Please, I won’t be difficult. You don’t have to do this,” I say.
He swallows, jaw tensing up again. “Turn around.”
It takes me a few seconds to do as he asks, as I feel queasy already.
Suddenly, he throws a new bag over my head and tightens it at the base, forcing me to breathe in and out through tiny holes again.
Oh God.
“No, no, please!” I beg. “Not this bag again! Please, take it off.”
But my cries fall on deaf ears as he lifts me from the floor and throws me over his shoulder again, marching out of the room we spent the night in.
Probably never to return again.
CHAPTER 5
Beast
The ride back to the house is strenuous. Too long.
My mind never stops going in circles, thinking about the killings, the escaped target of my job… and her.
The girl who made me stop.
The girl in the back of my van, pleading for me to let her go.
I cannot.
Even though her soft whimpers go through marrow and bone.
It shouldn’t bother me. I’m a killer. A beast. A hound with a single purpose: hunt and retrieve.
But she … she vexes me to the point when I’m no longer myself.
My fingers tighten around the steering wheel as I pull up into the parking lot of my owner’s mansion. I won’t have to deal with her for much longer, but the thought of having to hand her over is making me want to roar.
I wish I’d never seen her.
But it’s too late for wishes now.
She cries again, and even though I can’t physically see her, I still see her in my mind. Her face stained with tears, lips smeared, eyes puffy, with a face begging me not to do the very thing I’m about to do.
The one thing I’m forced to do.
Return.
With or without her.
But I made a choice, and now I have to stick with it.
Grumbling, I kick open my door and jump out, then slide open the van. She huddles in the corner, knees pulled up to her chest, her panties peeking through underneath her black dress, and I can’t help but zoom in on them.