Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Ripping out my gag, I croaked, “Tell me where my daughter is.”
Don straightened slowly, gazing down the barrel. He said nothing.
“Tell me where she is!”
He moved and I shot back—his swipe going wide. We circled till my back faced the door. Don sized me up and down and laughed.
“You’re going to give me the keys and tell me where Laurel is, or I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” His guttural, wheezy laugh grated on my ears. “Shoot me? You can’t even aim that thing. You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“Could you torture him to find the bomber that almost killed Tricky?”
Roaring pressed on my eardrums. Sweat collected on the small of my back. I was shaking. Shaking, throbbing, twitching, and panting so hard, I couldn’t suck in a full breath before it was out. All I could hear—louder than his laughter—was my baby crying.
“Can you break bones to maintain fear?”
“This is your last chance—”
“Save it, bitch.” Don cracked his knuckles. “A delicate, round-eyed little princess like you isn’t going to shoot me.”
“Can you do what it takes to be the monster that monsters are afraid of?”
“Put that down before you make me—”
A gunshot tore through the room.
“Ahh!” Howling, Don crashed against an armchair, clutching his ruined knee. I fired again, ripping through the other one.
Don flushed pale as paper, eyes rolling up in his skull. He bellowed—tears, snot, and blood gushing free.
I cried along with him. Panting, twitching, and sore body throbbing, but... not shaking. My hands were steady leveling the gun between his eyes.
“Tell me where Laurel is,” I rasped, “or so help me, I will kill you.”
“Wait! Wait, you d-don’t have to do this!”
“You have three seconds.”
“It’s not me you want!”
“Three.”
He tossed his head, sobbing. “I don’t— I don’t know! Luca didn’t tell any of us where he really lives.”
“Two.”
“I swear I don’t know!”
“One.”
A hard hit struck my temple. I tipped, gun sliding out of my hand. Louie shoved me the rest of the way down.
“What is with this bitch?” He wrestled the cuffs back on. “Hey, man, you okay?”
“What the fuck does it look like?! Get me a doctor!”
Black crept into my vision.
“We’ll lock this one up—chains, cuffs, restraints, cage. She won’t see sunlight till Europe.”
Darkness swallowed me whole.
I woke sometime later, though I couldn’t tell the difference. Walls pressed in on me—pushing on my knees, touching my toes, pressing on my head’s sore spot.
A box.
I was bound, gagged, and trapped in a box... and it was moving.
Chapter Sixteen
Sunny
“Vito.”
The crooked-teeth scum grinned at me. “Good to see you, Sunny. You’re looking good, man. Amazing what a little trip off a bridge does for your complexion.”
I slid off him to Adams. He relaxed on the wall, foot propped on it, and arms folded. “Where are Mackenzie and Laurel?”
“Don’t worry about them,” he said, waving the question away. “I’ll take good care of them. You should worry about yourself right now. You’re not going to walk out of here.”
“Twelve armed men against one guy? Everyone standing in a neat little row—just in case one of you cowers on the floor to suck your thumb, the other guy will step in.” I laughed. “You two really are piss-your-pants afraid of me.”
“Look around. Does anyone look afraid?” Luca moved in front of me. “I know you didn’t come alone. Liam? Ba—?”
“Now!” I hit the floor, covering my head and ears. Bane and Liam tossed the flashbangs inside, exploding light and sound, triggering gun blasts and shouts from the stupid fools who thought twelve men were enough to take us.
Liam, Bane, and River rushed into the room—snatching guns while Adams’s men were too disoriented to point them the right way up. They weren’t alone.
Ryker, Makai, Athena, and Athena’s team rushed in behind them. Ryker would always and forever be the only call I needed to make when shit was going down.
Makai and Ryker descended on Vito, ripping the gun out of his hand. Ryker kicked him across the face. He hit the floor and had to be lifted on his feet. Luca didn’t try running or reaching for his weapon. The two guns Bane had leveled on his eyes kept him still against that wall, arms up. Moving down the row, Liam helped Athena’s girls restrain the groaning men on the floor, securing their wrists with zip ties.
I stood up amid the clearing smoke, bearing down on Luca and Vito. “Well, that was the shortest ambush in criminal history. Not a surprise since that’s the one thing I hear you excel at, Adams—finishing too quickly.” Muscles ticced in his jaw. “Which one of you geniuses planned this? Where are you holding Mackenzie and her baby?”
Luca tossed his head back, laughing. “I wish you could see yourself, Sole. Chest puffed and strutting around, damned proud of yourself for curling up on the floor while your big brothers and stronger friends saved you. Your only contribution to ending the shortest ambush in history is a jizz crack. But we can always count on you for that,” he said, grinning away. “Sole ‘Sunny’ Bellisario. The jokester. The clown. Taking over territory his daddies gave him, and running it like the weak little bitch he is—giving out second chances and refusing to kill unless you absolutely have to.”