Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
It suddenly occurs to me that something might have happened to Lev, and Boris is here to tell me that my life is about to change again. Because whoever was after him finally got him, and now he’s dead.
God, I feel sick.
“Has something happened to Lev?” I ask, unable to hide my panic.
Maksim breaks his stony facade with a chuckle, but it fades when his father shoots him a look.
Boris turns his attention back to me. “For now, he is unharmed.”
For now?
“What does that mean? I don’t understand.”
Boris gives me a smile, but there is something off about it. “Before I tell you what I came here to tell you, I want you to know that this is nothing personal. I like you, Brooke, I really do. But unfortunately for you, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The way he’s looking at me—the way they are both looking at me—pours fire on my fear and ramps it up to the next level.
Again, I scan the room for my bodyguard. But he is nowhere.
“Your bodyguard is dead,” Boris says, as calmly as he would say, pass the salt. “He put up a struggle, but he was no match for Maksim.”
Fear tightens like a tightly coiled spring in my chest, and I find it hard to swallow for the ginormous lump of fear lodged in it. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, Brooke. But you’re a loose end that needs tying off.”
I shake my head. My heart is pounding so hard I almost can’t hear him over the roaring of my pulse in my ears. “I don’t understand.”
“If only you hadn’t gotten pregnant with the heir to the Zarkov fortune and head of the table. I would’ve simply executed Lev and let you leave. But I can’t let that baby in your womb take a single breath. It is a threat to me and my sons.”
Sons?
Oh my God, is Feliks involved with this too?
“What are you gonna do?” I ask, my voice trembling.
He nods to Maksim, who clicks his fingers, and the beautiful lady in the silk suit reappears, but this time she is hustling a bound and gagged Enya into the room.
I forget about my own fear for a moment. “What do you think you are doing?” I demand. “Get your hands off her.”
Silk Suit shoves Enya toward me.
“Sit down,” she commands.
With a whimper, Enya sits in the chair beside me. Her wrists are bound in front of her, and her hands are shaking. Our eyes meet. She’s been crying, but other than that, she looks unharmed.
“It’s going to be okay,” I try to reassure her, but my voice trembles because I’m not sure that is true.
I glance around the empty restaurant, looking for signs of help, but the place is empty.
“No one is coming for you,” Maksim says coldly. “Your fiancé is otherwise detained.”
My gaze darts to Boris. “What have you done to him?”
He waves it off as if it’s nothing. “Just a mild distraction to ensure that he is nowhere near here.”
I lift my chin. “So what happens now?”
“Now I move the final pieces into play.”
Fear is a bullet zipping through every part of my body.
He’s going to kill us.
“Let Enya go. She’s not involved with any of this. Why is she even here?”
“She was a means to an end, I’m afraid, my dear. We needed to lure you out from the safety of the mansion. We were only going to take her phone so we could send you the message. But she caught one of my soldiers lifting it from her bag while she was in with Igor. Now, she will join you in death.” He sighs. “Another case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Three minutes later and she would be looking for her phone now, not living her last few minutes here with you and me.”
Enya whimpers around her gag, her eyes wide and frightened.
“You don’t need to do this,” I say in a low, calm voice I don’t even recognize. But it comes from a place of strength, that part of me that will do anything to save the life of my baby. “Let us live, and we will go away, and you will never see either of us again.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late, Brooke. The die has already been cast.”
He doesn’t seem sorry at all. He’s just toying with us and getting off on it, the sick fuck.
“Please,” I whisper desperately.
“Now, don’t go and do that,” Boris snaps. “Don’t go begging. You’re stronger than that. Given the chance to live, you would have been a great wife for the pakhan. I admire your strength, so don’t let it fail you now. I will make it quick. There’s no need for the two of you to feel any pain.”