Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
He didn’t speak when he sat. He waited, watching me, the low murmur from his wife and the slightly higher pitch from Piper the only sounds in the room.
“A woman has made the ogre human, I see.” When he finally spoke, amusement danced in his tone.
“Not quite,” I answered, sipping my drink. I reveled in the rich fire traveling down my throat.
His fingers thrummed on his tumbler. “Enough to have you sitting here. Asking for help, I assume.”
“No.” The insinuation that I needed help keeping my woman safe damaged an ego I wasn’t sure I possessed until that moment.
Weakness.
That’s what I was showing.
Something deadly in my life.
Yet I didn’t hesitate when it would keep Piper safe. I had no ego when it came to her.
“I don’t need help with my task,” I stated evenly. “But I cannot take Piper with me.”
The thought of being without Piper after everything that had happened to her sent my blood boiling, but I had no other choice. I would not risk another mark on her skin, any more harm coming to her. She needed to be as far away from this, from me, as possible.
Lukyan was not a man prone to surprise, but I knew I’d shocked him with my unspoken request.
Though he’d only met her a few minutes ago, I knew that Lukyan was smart enough to deduce that Piper was my greatest treasure.
“You trust me to keep her here? Unharmed?” Intrigued, his eyes narrowed on me as if I were a fucking insect under a microscope.
My fingers curled into fists as I nodded once, violently.
“You are going to punish those who marked her, I assume?” he asked instead of offering any inkling of whether he would keep her there or not. He was going to torture me with that. It was his way. He could not provide kindness without cruelty. Though it infuriated me, I understood it. If he had come to me with the same situation, I never would’ve let him through the door.
Before Piper, at least. She wouldn’t have allowed me to keep someone on the doorstep with a bruised woman, even if that someone was the most dangerous hitman in the country.
“I’m going to take down Stone and everyone who is loyal to him.” It was folly, telling him my plan. Lukyan held no loyalties, but I knew he collected favors. It would be a big one he’d collect indeed if he were to inform Stone of my plan and whereabouts.
“No small feat.” He sipped his drink.
I didn’t respond to that.
“And you expect to come out of it alive?” Again, the mirth in his tone was clear.
“I expect to accomplish my task,” I told him, gripping the tumbler so tight I feared I’d shatter it.
I’d accomplish my task. Whether or not I lived afterward remained to be seen. But I knew that there was no way I’d take my last breath until the threat against Piper was bleeding out at my feet.
Lukyan nodded as if he understood the sentiment behind my meager words. “What would you like me to do with her, if you don’t come back?”
I was surprised. He was agreeing to keep her there. It was my last-ditch attempt, and I’d expected it to be much more difficult, thornier than this-
“I will make arrangements for her and her sister.” I didn’t let my relief show. “To go back to their old life.”
“You think she’ll just go back to her life before this?” He studied me, leaning back in his chair.
“She’ll have to.” Poison ran through my body instead of blood. I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. “You’ll take her?”
I didn’t beg. Wouldn’t beg. But that was pretty fucking close.
Lukyan let me stew in the unpleasant feeling, likely entertained by my discomfort. “Yes, I’ll take her,” he eventually replied.
I didn’t show my relief, just sipped my drink.
Piper would live, I told myself.
That’s all that mattered.
Piper
Knox didn’t come out of the cigar meeting looking at all relaxed. In fact, he walked toward me like a man walking toward an executioner.
The sight of him sent ice through my limbs. I understood that things were happening. Big things. He was planning on taking down the head of an international crime organization in order to keep me safe. I had already tried to argue against this, but he wouldn’t be swayed. And logic dictated that this was the only way that we’d ever actually be able to be together. It was the only way I could go back to my life. If that was even an option after everything I’d been through.
It didn’t mean I had to like it. It didn’t mean that I didn’t have a cold pit at the bottom of my belly that made my skin itch.
The home was expensively appointed with rich colors—purples, deep burgundies—with oil paintings, candles, dim lighting. I felt like I was in an English castle.