Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Carlo glares at me. “You’re Falcon Bellamy.”
“Thought you said you didn’t care?” I try to ignore the racing of my pulse.
On the inside, all that matters is how you project. What’s going on inside your body doesn’t mean a damned thing.
They called me Savage, and I became Savage, even when I was as scared as a fucking rabbit being chased by wolves.
“I don’t.” Carlo meets my gaze. “We’re here for the Gallo woman. And sure, we’re not supposed to hurt anyone along the way…but Abel, here…he doesn’t like to follow orders.”
“What do you want with her?” I demand.
“None of your fucking business.” From Abel.
“I’m thinking it is, if you want me to call off the cops.”
“The cops ain’t coming,” Abel says. “You think we’re a couple of morons?”
“You really don’t want me to answer that,” I say, my voice calm with no cracks.
They won’t get anywhere near Savannah. Not while I’m alive.
And I plan to fucking stay alive. A couple assholes like these two won’t be the end of Falcon Bellamy.
Not in this lifetime. I’ve faced worse. A hell of a lot worse.
Of course, none of them had guns.
The blond, Carlo, seems to be the leader of the two. Abel looks like he may be a few bricks shy of a load.
Which makes him way more dangerous.
If I take him out, I can reason with Carlo—at least long enough to disarm him.
But how?
A distraction. That’s what I need. But what? They’re right. I am bluffing. The cops aren’t coming, and my house is too far away from any of my siblings’ homes. No one will hear me if I yell for help.
Hell, no one will even hear a gunshot.
Except for Vannah. She’ll hear it.
Fuck, she’s got to be scared out of her mind. I wish I could be her shield, that I could wave a fucking wand and get her far away from here, somewhere safe.
But I’ve done all I can. I’ve sequestered her away in the only locked room in the pool area.
What the hell do these assholes want with her? They’ll take her over my dead body, but maybe they don’t need to know that.
Maybe I should try a different strategy.
“Say I let you take the girl.” The words are bitter on my tongue. “What’s in it for me?”
“Not getting your head blown off.” Abel spits for the third time.
I don’t dare turn my back on them—though I’m tempted, so they can see the word Savage tattooed over my back.
I’ll have to show them just how savage I am another way.
“I didn’t ask you.” I turn to Carlo. “What’s in it for me?”
“Nothing.” He shrugs. “We’re going to get her one way or the other. I’ll say it again. I got no beef with you, but Savannah Gallo is coming with us. Whether you’re a help or a hindrance is up to you.”
Fuck. A distraction. A diversion. What the hell can I use?
I gaze around my back yard.
My back yard that’s foreign to me. Once the house was finished, I was carted off to prison. I never got to live here.
The lawn is lush and green and rolls far past the fenced in area that keeps the dogs from running off. A network of stone pathways meanders through the range, and black wrought iron lampposts surround the perimeter.
If I could get to one, pull it out of the ground…
But even if I could get there, I don’t have that kind of muscle.
I stand rock solid, forcing myself to stay immune from anything that might cause me to move. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sydney and the pup. Sydney’s ears perk up.
She’s going to—
Yep. A shrill bark.
Abel jerks.
It’s the diversion I need, and I don’t think. With Carlo’s attention off me, I spring, lunging at Abel and disarming him with an elbow to his ribs and a rough squeeze to his right wrist. I grab his piece, and in a flash I’ve got him in a headlock with the nose of his pistol pointing at his neck.
Carlo’s gun is still trained on my head.
“Back off, or your buddy gets it,” I growl.
“You think I care?”
“Fuck you, Carlo,” Abel says, his voice raspy.
“You don’t talk,” I say, my voice projecting calmness, “or I blow your fucking head off, you bastard.”
Carlo refocuses his aim. “Listen, friend.”
“Do I look like a friend to you? I’m your worst nightmare.”
My heart is hammering against my sternum, so hard that this halfwit I’m holding against me can probably feel it. But no doubt his own heart is pounding. I’ve got a gun on him.
His pal’s got a gun on me.
But I can move quickly. Abel here will be dead before I am.
“You tell me what’s going on,” I say through clenched teeth, “Or I swear to God, Abel here is dead.”
“For fuck’s sake, Carlo,” Abel grits out.