Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Yes. They were, but I’d witnessed how Kai took care of his men. He either didn’t want to worry about turnover or he actually cared about them. Or who knows. He might’ve just trusted these guys and didn’t want to burn them out.
I needed to stop giving Kai more credit than he deserved. Fucking attraction had started to blind me to what he did for a living: he was in the mafia. He was a bad guy. He did bad things.
“Yeah,” I said faintly, my stomach growling. “I’m surprised too.” I eyed him again. “You’ll be okay?”
“I’ll be fine as long as we get away or maybe get some food.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “It’s good to see you. I haven’t said so before now.”
He was right. I stopped and we hugged.
“It’s good to see you too.”
His arms still around me, he said into my ear, “The woman found me. I don’t know who she is.”
I whispered back, “What do you mean she found you?”
A shudder went through his body. He burrowed his face in my shoulder. “The broadcast went through the Network’s service. I saw he’d released the other Hiders, but killed one. A day later, she was knocking on my door saying if I wanted to go after Kai Bennett, she would help me.”
I stilled.
That didn’t— “She sought you out?”
He nodded.
She’d recruited him.
“You don’t know her?”
“No—” he began.
A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air.
Everyone outside ran for the warehouse.
The guards got there ahead of us, and as the door opened, I could see the woman reach for one of the guard’s guns. There was more shouting, and then a gunshot.
The woman’s back arched, and she crumbled to the floor.
No matter what Kai said, I knew there wasn’t a blood bag for this one. The woman was dead. Blood poured out of her forehead.
I stopped in my tracks, staring at her lifeless body before lifting my head.
Kai stood over her, the gun in his hand. He was the one who’d shot her.
Then the door slammed shut in front of me.
I didn’t comprehend anything after that, not right away.
Blade did. He grabbed my arm and whisper-shouted in my ear, “LET’S GO!”
They’d left us alone.
I couldn’t think about it.
I turned. Blade had started to run, and I took off after him.
They would find us. Kai had promised that. I had no doubt he would, but Blade needed to escape. I didn’t trust Kai with Blade’s life. I didn’t know if I trusted him with mine, but it didn’t matter right now.
We ran.
I was breaking my promise, but I didn’t care. Kai had broken his too.
My heart was in my chest, but as I took flight behind my 411 operative partner, I shed the woman I’d become just being near Kai Bennett.
Each step I took away made things clearer. I was returning to that 411 operative Kai knew I was. My steps grew quicker, more assured, steadier, and the emotion drained from me.
I became calmer the farther away I got, and then everything clicked back into place.
My mission was to get free.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
We could hear them yelling.
We were already over a ridge and down another small hill, out of their sight, by the time they realized their mistake.
But it wasn’t soon enough.
That thought plagued me. Not soon enough. Not for Kai. Not for the way he had everything planned and calculated ahead of time. It didn’t make sense, but I pushed forward. I had to.
Blade and I sprinted past trees, their branches whipping against us. He stumbled once, but rolled right back to his feet. Our Hider training came back to us. Regulate your breathing. Don’t overexert yourself. Keep your head up to see the best. Shoulders in a comfortable position. I pumped my arms when I grew weaker. Push off your heels. Roll through your toes in a circular motion. Envision your feet as if they’re wheels. Keep going.
Just.
Keep.
Going.
We ran. It started drizzling, and we ran through that too.
We kept going downhill. There were two farms. We should’ve been close by now.
But that thought still bothered me. Kai had messed up, big time. But he didn’t make mistakes.
If that were true, then he’d wanted us to run.
Right?
The other option was to stay, unless it’d been a test. I’d failed if that was it.
But no. That was a mind fuck. If you’re given a chance at freedom, you take it. That was a golden rule for humanity.
“There!” Blade shouted, pointing ahead at a light.
It was one of the farms. Veering toward it, we paused just before breaking from the tree line. A large red barn loomed in front of us, the paint fading and stripped off. A large fence circled out for livestock, but there were no animals. The fence was broken in more than one place, and the grass grew tall. It hadn’t been mowed for a long time. There was a small cabin structure behind the barn, but the door was half gone. A side of the house had fallen in on itself. No one lived here, hadn’t for a long time.