Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 72308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
After several seconds of trembling, he nodded.
“I’m going to wait for Kyle right here. Warn him—and I’ll shoot every one of you.”
He gave another nod.
“Take a seat.” I nodded to the chair near the piano.
Without question, he did as I asked, sitting by the window, steadily growing paler.
I took a seat on the couch, the chandelier above on a dim glow. The curtains were open, revealing a nice view of the Eiffel Tower. I made myself comfortable and waited, pissed off that he’d stalked Elise to her front door like a fucking psychopath.
Several hours later, the elevator hummed to life.
“It’s showtime.” I looked at the servant then nodded to the back.
He was quick to hurry off and disappear.
The doors eventually opened, and Kyle stepped out, wearing his signature three-piece suit like he slept in the damn thing. He was typing on his phone as he walked inside, completely oblivious to me on the couch. “Gerard?” He stopped and continued to type, like his message was too important to walk at the same time. “Gerard?” he repeated, as if he was used to being greeted the second he walked in the door. He finally finished whatever the fuck he was doing and looked up. He opened his mouth to call for his butler again, but that was when his eyes shifted to me.
I acknowledged him with a subtle raise of my chin. “Did you need stitches?”
He finally processed the shock. “Gerard, call security!”
“Do you not like it when people show up at your home unannounced?” I asked as I got to my feet. “Because I had the impression you did.”
He immediately shifted back. He obviously wasn’t armed because he would have drawn it by now. “Gerard!”
“It’s just you and me, asshole.” I moved around the coffee table.
He moved quicker, trying to maneuver behind furniture to get away from me.
“Now imagine how much scarier this would be if I wanted to hold you down and fuck you in the ass.”
He backed up even farther, like I’d make good on that threat. He ran out of room when he reached the hallway. He could keep going, but there was much less space, and it would be dangerous to be the one cornered in that area.
I grabbed him by the front of the shirt and threw him several feet into the air, making him land right on top of his glass coffee table.
It shattered into pieces and cut up his face and hands. He couldn’t get up because every time he tried, he was stabbed by shards of glass.
I grabbed him by the front of his jacket and yanked him across the floor, smearing blood along his Persian rug. “Final warning, Kyle.” I kicked him until he rolled over onto his back. I planted my boot firmly against his chest and pinned him down. “Bother my woman again, and I’ll kill you.” I drew my pistol and pointed it an inch from his head before I fired.
His whole body gave a terrified jerk when the bullet pierced the hardwood beside him.
“You understand me?”
His deep breaths filled the silence. He wore a straight face, but it wasn’t enough to compensate for the desperate way he needed air because he was scared shitless.
“Do you understand me—”
“Yes.”
I returned the gun to the back of my jeans and pulled my foot off his chest.
With his eyes focused on the ceiling, he didn’t look at me.
I walked into the elevator and stared at him as I waited for the doors to close.
He just lay there.
On the drive home, Cauldron called me.
“What?” I said when I answered.
“What’s your problem?”
“Just got my hands dirty.”
“Roan?”
“Kyle.”
“What did he do now?”
“Fucked with Elise. So I fucked with him. What do you want?”
“Are you home?” There was a bite to his voice, as if at any moment he would explode. “I’m in Paris.”
Fuck. “I’m out. Let’s meet up somewhere.”
“If I drink another scotch, I’ll keel over and die. I’ll just wait at your place.”
I couldn’t talk him out of it without raising a huge red flag, so I kept my mouth shut. “I’ll be there soon.” After I got off the phone, I texted Camille. Awake? It was midnight, and she went to bed early, so I figured she’d sleep through the whole thing. She’d probably never know that Cauldron had been there at all.
Cauldron beat me to the house and was in the living room when I walked in.
A glass of water was on the table.
“Well, that’s a first.” I took the seat across from him.
He cracked a smile, but only barely. “Where’d you put the body?”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“You didn’t?” he asked in mild surprise. “Don’t you think that’s stupid?”
“Last thing I need is to start a war with the Skull Kings. That would be stupider.”
Cauldron had stopped shaving, so his typical shadow was now a full-on beard. His cheeks were hollow too, and his signature summer color had faded to a pale white. It’d only been a week since Camille had shown up on my doorstep, but his haggard appearance suggested it’d been months. “And you really think that’s the end of it?”