Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 764(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 764(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
“So you're saying I should have done or said something differently? Are you saying this is my fault?” Her voice shakes and I doubt it’s anger alone that causes it.
“I didn't say that. I just think it’s better for you to stay quiet. It might have been one of the first smart things you've done.”
“I hope you don't expect me to thank you for that insult.”
“I would never expect that from you,” I mutter. “Eventually, he’ll grow desperate. That's all I'm saying. The smart move is to lay low and take it seriously.”
“You mean to tell me I can't even go for a walk by myself?”
Does she think I didn’t notice the way she looked at the neighborhood? As if she was already imagining the casket she wanted to be buried in after she was murdered on the street. Why would she want to take a walk alone? “I don't trust you to go for a walk by yourself. There's no telling where you'll end up or who you'll end up with.”
Before she can go on a rant, I add, “Or did you forget where I found you a little over a week ago?”
Her head snaps back, color rising in her cheeks. She had to know the people she was with were bad news– mainly since she stuck out like a sore thumb, cosplaying somebody much tougher and less pampered than she’s been all her life. Whatever she needs, she thought she could find it in some dingy underground club. Lucky for her, I followed her there after noticing the way she’d been sneaking out.
Even luckier, I never told Callum. If I had, she’d be tied up somewhere, under twenty-four-hour surveillance.
She averts her gaze, chewing her bottom lip. “I'm allowed to have a life of my own. To make choices for myself.”
“You were in some skeevy, underground club. It was barely eight o'clock, and already half the people there were wasted out of their minds. Did you even know any of those losers?”
“Yeah, actually. I was getting to know them. We were becoming friends until you decided to act like a goddamn caveman and drag me out of there.”
“What was the alternative? To leave you there? I don’t think so. Do you realize what your father would have done to me if he found out I let you hang around with those losers?”
Callum would’ve murdered me on the spot.
“Right. My father. Your boss. Always do what he says and ask how high when he tells you to jump.”
“You aren't going to lure me into a fight and distract me from what we're talking about. Your judgment has been shit lately, and you're here because you're hiding from an asshole who probably thinks you killed his son. Now is the time to stop being stubborn and get real.”
“Yeah, and the way to get me to go along with you is to act like a dictator instead of trying to compromise.” Her sarcasm always hits the spot.
“This is not a situation where compromise is an option.”
“Says you.”
“That's right. Says me. In case you forgot, I'm the guy who's here to protect you.”
She couldn’t look me up and down with more contempt than she is at this very moment. “You’re my bodyguard, not my boss. I'm going to do what I want.”
Turning toward the door, I call out, “Within reason.”
Her voice is barely audible when I reach the porch. “Yeah, we'll see about that.”
She’s right. We will. She’s going to be gravely disappointed when she finds out I only got as close as I have to her father because I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get shit done.
This means not even she will get in the way of me doing my job, no matter how determined she is to destroy herself.
CHAPTER 4
TATUM
Stupid, spoiled little bitch. You're only good for one thing, anyway.
My eyes snap open at the sound of a gunshot. My ears ring as if the gun was shot right beside me. Darkness surrounds me. Suffocating me. I’m frozen, every cell in my body clenched in terror so profound it’s wound around my limbs like steel bands squeezing the life out of me. No matter how I fight to suck air into my lungs, I can’t breathe.
I'm going to die here, in the dark, all alone. This is it. This is how it ends.
Light splashes across the ceiling, coming through the windows to my right. A car driving past with the headlights shining. Because I'm on a street, in a neighborhood. This isn’t an apartment in Paris or a hotel room in Venice. Kristoff is nowhere near me now. He can’t ever say those ugly things to me again, and I’m no longer in that warehouse.
I'm in Romero's house. It was just a dream.
And all at once, my muscles unlock, and my lungs fill with air.