Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Jiang Kun stood in the doorway, and she wasn’t alone. Three large men with guns flanked her. She said something to them and then two of the men started to run around toward the back of the house, but not before Josh heard the sound of a car peeling away. There were some gunshots, but that car was gone.
Good for Shane.
Maybe Declan and Riley would come back. Maybe. Maybe John Bishop would do everything he said.
Jiang Kun had changed into jeans and a black shirt, one he recognized from Kayla’s closet. “What gave me away?”
She stalked in, her guards following behind.
“A man knows the woman he loves,” he replied. “And I sure as hell don’t love you.”
Kun’s lips curved into a malicious smirk. Her hand touched his chest. “Too bad. I’ll admit getting to fuck the hell out of a man with your prodigious experience was one of the reasons I was going to enjoy this assignment. Your loss. Mine, too. I was going to tape it all and send it to little sis. Guess I can torture you in front of her instead. Boys, let’s take Mr. Hunt to see his one true love. Be careful with him. He’s used to VIP treatment now.”
The two guards took him by the arms and started to haul him out.
At least he would see Kayla.
One last time.
Chapter Twenty
Kayla couldn’t stop shaking. How many times had they put her in that freezing cold water? A hundred? It fucking felt like it. Her lungs hurt from how many times she’d had to cough up water from them.
It had happened over and over. Morales would ask her the same questions. She would tell him to fuck off and they would put her under. She would watch for a moment, seeing the oddly monstrous face distorted by the water, and then the burn would begin. Her lungs would ache and panic would set in as she began to drown. They would haul her out and she would shiver and shake on the cold marble.
She was going to die here. They would hold her under one too many times and she wouldn’t come back.
Would her sister kill Josh? Or would she simply walk away and Josh would be left thinking she didn’t love him, that she’d been everything he’d feared she was. Cold. Manipulative. Unloving.
It was funny. That was what hurt most. Josh wouldn’t know she loved him with all her heart. She would be buried somewhere in a shallow grave and he wouldn’t know she’d gone there loving him, wishing things had been different, praying he one day found someone he could love the way she loved him.
“Hey, sweetheart.” A hand swept her wet hair back.
Warm. She finally had some hope of warmth, and in that moment, she could feel Joshua’s arms around her, his big body sheltering her. Had he found her? Had he brought Shane and called Declan and Riley back? Had they stormed the mansion and saved her, and now she was safe and warm?
So weak. That last session had been a doozy. They typically dropped her on the hard floor when they were done with their torture for the moment, but now she was being held tenderly. She cuddled closer, trying to get that feeling of safety Josh always gave her. Maybe all wasn’t lost.
“That’s right,” a voice that wasn’t Joshua’s said. “Stay close to me. I’ll take care of you.”
She winced when she realized where she was. She was wrapped in a big fluffy towel, the warmth starting to penetrate her skin, and there were masculine arms around her, but they weren’t her lover’s arms.
“It’s all right. The bad man is taking a little break so we’re going to rest for a bit,” a deep voice promised her. She was sitting on his lap, her hands still bound. Levi Green might have been a good-looking man if he wasn’t such a righteous dung heap of a human. He was practically cooing at her like she was some baby bird he was trying to draw back to life. “Sweetheart, stop being stubborn. No one wants to hurt you. Well, I don’t want to hurt you. If I’d had my way, this would have gone differently. I vastly prefer seduction to strong-arm tactics. Let’s get you some hot chocolate and warm you up and you and I can talk. Give me what I want and you don’t have to get back in that tub.”
Such sweet words.
She pulled away from him. It would be smarter to play into his obviously obsessive fantasies about her, but she hated him too much to even pretend. They were going to kill her. Levi might think he would get to keep her as a pet, but she knew the truth. If they got the information they wanted out of her, she would be dead two minutes later. They couldn’t risk her getting out, and she suspected only Levi was certain of the extent of his sexual prowess when it came to getting women to talk.