Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Molly just nodded her head again. Bastien tightened his hold on her. Sonia noticed he did that with one arm – the other was close to his weapon.
“Molly was held prisoner by a man for weeks. He beat her, raped her, broke bones and threatened to kill her. Unfortunately, the man has money, and he’s connected to law enforcement. Her family wants money to feed their addictions, so the first time she got away from him, they sold her out. When she got away again, she came here to hide. We think he’s found her.”
Bastien’s face was a mask of fury, and Sonia stepped closer to Kai without thinking. “You didn’t think to tell me this sooner?”
“I couldn’t break her confidence. She was terrified you’d believe him because he has that connection to law enforcement. He’s a district attorney. Apparently, he knows everyone in his hometown. The cops are on his side. Molly was terrified of being sent back there. She thought he might put out a BOLO on her and you’d arrest her.”
Bastien ran his hand down Molly’s hair. “Honey, how could you think I’d do that without talking to you? You have to know I would have believed you.”
“We found these,” Gray said, pulling the tiny cameras out of his pocket. “Someone drilled holes in her house and stuffed these into the walls so they could record her every movement. Foret, they recorded her in her bedroom.”
Their eyes met over Molly’s head, Bastien’s betraying his fury for one moment.
“There has to be a remote around here somewhere to collect the data.” Gray glanced around the neighborhood.
“Open field, up to five hundred feet, but that’s pushing it,” Kai said, looking toward the field behind Molly’s house.
“Or one of the houses across the street. A neighbor’s house, or the field,” Gray suggested. “I’ll take a look around.”
“I can take her to my house to be safe while you all look,” Sonia offered. “I don’t want her here for all this.”
“That’s a good idea,” Bastien said. He peeled Molly from his chest, one hand catching her chin so he could look into her tear-drenched face.
Sonia wasn’t at all surprised to see that Molly looked beautiful even after crying her heart out. If Sonia had done that, she would have had a red, splotchy face, swollen eyes and nose and even her mouth would have been puffy, because when she cried, the biggest puffer fish in the world had nothing on her. She swelled up like a balloon and turned red like a boiled lobster.
“You can’t go alone, Sonia,” Kai said. “I’ll have to go with you.”
She shook her head. “You can come the moment you find what you’re looking for.”
“I have to go with you,” he repeated.
Bastien frowned at her. “Damn it, Sonia. I had a bad feeling about you too. You can tell me your story later. Go, and take Molly with you.”
Sonia ignored Kai. She wasn’t going to argue in front of a cop and get him any more curious than he already was. She caught Molly by the hand. “Come on, honey, let’s go pack you a bag.”
Molly shook her head. “I don’t want to go in there.”
Sonia understood. She hadn’t wanted to enter the Bogomolov home once she knew her husband had planned to murder her. “I’ll get you a few things. You need any meds? Something along those lines?”
Molly shook her head again and then sank onto the porch swing. Kai hesitated and then walked out toward the left side of the house, toward the nearest neighbors. Gray had gone around to the back to cover the field. Sonia knew both men were utilizing their leopards’ abilities to help them. Bastien went straight toward an abandoned house two houses down and across the street.
“There’s a bag under my bed. I’m sorry for being such a baby,” Molly said.
“No worries. I’ll get everything you need.” She hurried inside, dragged the bag from under the bed, managed to find underwear, jeans and shirts, raced into the bathroom, collected makeup, toothbrush, hair tools and found birth control pills. She added them, although it looked as if Molly hadn’t started them yet.
She found a pretty dress hanging in the closet, rolled it and added it and then raced back outside. “Let’s go.” She held out her hand. “We can get you settled, and I’ll put on coffee and something for the boys to have. It will be done by the time Kai gets there.”
“Are you certain he didn’t mean he had to ride in the car with us?” Molly asked. She looked around her, fear on her face.
“They always come right behind me,” Sonia said. She whistled and when Kai turned his head, she pointed to her truck.
He nodded and had started back when Gray came up to him. The two conferred. Sonia and Molly hurried to her truck and got in.