Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 104127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Once we hang up, I pull up the group chat.
Gideon
Stay with your wives.
Tobias
Bullshit. Skye would kill me if I left you to fend for yourself.
He has a point.
Gideon
But only you.
Cyrus
That’s not going to happen. Tell us when and where.
Jax
I need an address so I can send you the schematics of the building.
Gideon
Fine, but that’s all.
Matteo
I’ll be there. No way am I letting that fucker have all the fun.
He’s obviously referring to his cousin, Lorenzo.
Lorenzo
We don’t need your old ass slowing us down.
Matteo
We’re the same age.
Lorenzo
You’re old AF.
Trent
As much as I’d love to be there…
Lorenzo
Yeah, we know you’re busy. You’re a pussy, anyway.
Trent
Fuck off. You know I’m not even in the country.
Gideon
While I’m enjoying this—can we all rein this in and rescue my girl? I’m texting you the address in Brighton Beach. Jax, send me what info you can get.
There is a chance some of us won’t make it out alive, but with them having my back, the chances are less.
I might die, but as long as I get to Sasha and get her to safety, it’ll be worth it.
I’m not sure what I believe in, but I believe in her.
She has to still be breathing. Nobody attempts to snuff out her life and lives.
Blood will be on my hands tonight, and I won’t regret it for a single moment.
54
SASHA
No matter how hard I try, I can’t get the images of the video out of my head.
It’s like a record skipping.
Over and over again.
The pain he was in. The way he begged Gideon to protect me.
Even after everything, despite our fractured relationship, Roman’s last words were about me.
His love for me never wavered.
For a time, he was lost, but at the moment it counted, he was the brother I loved. The brother who tried his best to raise me, care for me and love me after our parents died.
The truth hit me in the face today; the Russians orchestrated my brother’s downfall, not Gideon. They are the reason he’s dead. Gideon only helped him in the end.
The guilt feels like a heavy stone resting on my chest, making it impossible to take a deep breath. It creeps up my spine and clings to me. No matter how hard I try to escape its clutches, it won’t let go.
I close my eyes, desperate not to see Roman’s face, but every time I do, I see Gideon. I never allowed him to explain, and now I’m here, about to die, without telling him that I’m sorry.
Death will come for me, and I’ll never make this right with him.
My temper and need to protect myself have cost me everything.
It cost me Roman. I refused to let him in and look what it got me. I lost him, and now my stubbornness cost me Gideon.
Voices drift across the space.
“He’s coming for her,” the person says, and excitement blooms inside me. Despite my leaving him, Gideon is coming to save me, but it’s quickly extinguished when I hear the next words.
“Good. Let him come. I will kill him. Kill them all, and maybe once I take over his territory, I’ll be able to reclaim the money I lost because of Roman.”
My hands shake as a chill runs down my spine. I can hear them plotting an ambush for Gideon, like a pack of predators planning their next attack. Their voices are slick and full of malice. They remind me of a swarm of wasps buzzing through the air, ready to strike out.
Gideon could die. Tears bloom in my eyes. He can die because of me.
I’ve made so many mistakes. The weight of them threatens to kill me.
Another voice grunts in agreement. “He won’t know what hit him,” he says calmly. His tone is almost too calm—as if he’s relishing this moment too much and taking pleasure in Gideon’s inevitable demise.
My stomach twists and turns at their words.
Tears blur my vision.
“Once Gideon is dead, we will go after everyone. One by one, we will take over the whole East Coast. Turns out Roman’s betrayal might have been exactly what we needed to control New York.”
“It will start a war,” another voice says.
“Yep, couldn’t have planned it better myself.”
My heart is pounding in my chest as I frantically try to loosen the knots binding my hands together.
I need to get out of here. I have to warn Gideon. Even if I die in the crossfire, I have to at least try. By the sounds of things, he isn’t very far. My thoughts of escape are cut off when two men stroll into the room I’m being held in.
“Come on.” The taller figure grabs my arm roughly and drags me across the room toward the doorway shrouded in darkness.
I’m not sure where he’s taking me.
Fear coils in my stomach.
I can feel a trickle of perspiration streaming down my back, and my breath comes in short, shallow gasps.