Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
“She’s scared, but I think she’ll listen to me. She’s smart and understands what’s at stake.”
“I hope so,” Dex says, though I can see he’s not convinced by my words.
“I plan on keeping her with me under lock and key until we know this mess is fully cleaned. I’m not going to let her have the chance to put herself, us, or The Whitney in jeopardy.”
Dex walks to the window and stares out. His shoulders rise and then fall. Watching the sun rays shine in reminds me just how long I’ve been at this. I’m exhausted and need to finish up so I can get some sleep.
“They’re already starting to look for JV,” Dex says.
“Yeah, we don’t have long,” I say, knowing that time’s ticking.
“We’ve got to keep the wolves at bay, and they’re right outside the door,” Dex says quietly. He’s quoting a line his father used to say when shit got bad. Funny that it’s as if both our fathers are in this room right now beside us. It’s almost as if their ghosts are haunting us with a solution.
We simply need to listen.
“Well, we could burn the whole place down…” I say with a smirk, repeating what my father used to say to Dex’s father in reply.
Dex spins to face me with a smile. “They groomed us for this.”
I nod. “They did. We learned from the best.”
“I sure as fuck hope we learned all we could from them, because no matter how good you did at cleaning this room, this situation is going to need a fucking blow torch.”
“Nothing is going to get solved by standing around chatting.” I lean down and slide the torso into the bag and say, “Help me with this, will ya. JV was a heavy fucker.”
“This is your domain,” Dex says, though he’s already reaching for a pair of gloves and putting them on.
“And you just walked into it. I’m getting too old for this shit anyway. An extra pair of hands will be good.”
“If you so much as mention anything about this to Katja, I’ll fucking cut you into a million pieces myself,” Dex says as he squats down to help me.
“We’ll just add this detail to my dirty ledger that’s full of all our secrets.” I give him a smile as we both lift in unison. “Now stop thinking of Katja and walk.”
Chapter Seven
ROWAN
I flinch as the burner phone next to me rings. It may not be my iPhone, but the cheap plastic device is about the only thing keeping me from crawling out of my skin.
“Hi Katja,” I answer. She’s the only person to have the number.
“You sound a bit better. Did you sleep?”
I wish.
“Not yet,” I answer truthfully. There’s no point in lying.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” She asks, but I know these aren’t the real questions she called to ask me.
“Naw. I’m not hungry, and I still have the leftovers from the delivery earlier today.”
“How’s your shoulder feeling? And the cut on your hand?”
She means well, but her questions annoy me.
“No change.”
Considering how stir crazy I’m going pacing around Z’s room, I should be grateful for my friend’s call, and on one level I am. But the truth is, I’m still reeling from all of the dark secrets Katja disclosed to me earlier this afternoon. I honestly don’t know how to feel, let alone what to say to her.
“You’re upset,” she says.
Duh.
Earlier, after she’d left me alone to replay the shitshow of bad news, I had been too shocked to react. I spent hours pacing… thinking… worrying…
Finally, hearing her voice again, something snaps in my brain and I start talking.
“Sorry, but in the last twenty-four hours I’ve been attacked, killed a man, and found out the mafia is going to take a hit out on me if they ever find out I was involved. Then to top it off, I find out my good friend is in business with an elite criminal concierge who is using the beloved Whitney as a safe house for criminals—just one of which viciously attacked me and tried to rape me in my own suite.
“Now I’m stuck hiding in the room of a man who cleans up and hides crimes for a living while he is in my suite cutting up and disposing of the previously mentioned dead body. So yeah… I’m upset.” I’m whisper shouting by the time I finish my rant since Dex has lectured me repeatedly about remaining super quiet.
I’m being a bitch. I know it, but the words just sort of fly out.
“Good,” Katja says at the other end of the phone.
“Say what? Did you hear a word I said?” I retort, losing my cool. “Nothing about this is good.”
“I just meant I’m glad you’re talking about it… getting angry. That’s better than bottling everything up. You barely said a word to me earlier after I filled you in.”