Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
A sadistic grin pulls at his lips. “That’s the problem, Dove. You think you have nothing, but really you have everything, and by the end of this, I’ll take it all from you.”
Confusion seeps into my pores, but before I can try and piece anything together, Christian produces a needle and stabs it into the side of my neck, pressing the syringe down and injecting me with some unknown drug.
“Night, night, little bird, when you wake up, all will be different.”
21
“If you keep pacing like that, you’re gonna leave scuff marks on my carpet,” Xander growls from his desk, annoyance lacing his words. That makes two of us. I’ve had enough of mob bosses telling me what to do.
“If your men would hurry up and find her, I wouldn’t have a reason to pace.” I pin him with a stare that’s sure to get me killed. I still don’t trust Xander, and I’m not sure what his real intentions are, but right now, he is helping me, so I need to really rein in my anger.
“They’ll find her,” he snaps before returning his attention back to his laptop. I have no doubt that they will find her, but I fear that it’s going to be too late by the time they do, and I don’t want to imagine the condition she’ll be in by then.
“I just can’t wait around any longer. I’m going to go look for her myself.”
“I already told you, it’s best to stay here until we know what’s going on. My informant gave me too little information to act right now,” Xander explains again as if I didn’t hear him the first ten times. Apparently, Xander managed to get one of Matteo’s men on his payroll. That guy called an hour ago, saying that there was an incident at the mansion. Alberto is dead, and Dove has disappeared. Whether she escaped or was taken is still not clear.
Fuck, I hope she escaped. If not, I’m burning down the world until I find her.
“At least check the surveillance in Dove’s apartment again. If she got away, she would go there, I know it.”
“It’s still pulled up on my computer. If she goes there—” He pauses mid-sentence, his eyes fixed on the computer screen. “She just walked in…”
I’m across the room and around Xander’s desk in two seconds flat. My eyes fall onto the computer screen and catch sight of Dove… my Dove, walking into her ransacked apartment. Through the grainy screen, she doesn’t appear to be hurt or really even frightened. In fact, she looks strong, like a queen. Her gaze scans the ground, looking over her destroyed belongings before moving up and right into the camera. She doesn’t know where I hid the cameras, but somehow, she manages to look straight into it.
It’s like she’s staring at me, beckoning me to come for her.
I’m coming, baby…
“Ivan and his team are outside and ready to go. I’ll stay here and continue checking surveillance. Go!” Xander commands, and for once, I have no problem taking his order.
Without saying a word, I’m out of his office and running toward the front door. I almost take the handle off while opening it. When I make it to the front steps, I realize Xander wasn’t lying. Ivan is standing in front of a fleet of cars, seemingly only waiting for me to get in. He doesn’t have to wait long, because the next instant, I’m shoving into the passenger seat.
Ivan jogs around to the driver’s seat, and we are off before either of us can buckle up.
The ride to her apartment seems to take forever, even though Ivan seems to have his foot to the pedal most of the drive, it still feels like forever. Even if we were going a thousand miles per hour, it wouldn’t be fast enough when it comes to Dove.
“She just left the apartment,” Xander says over the car speaker.
“We’re almost there,” Ivan says as if he knows how anxious I’m feeling. Grinding my teeth, I hope and pray that we’ll catch her before she leaves. These last couple of days have been pure torture, and even if I am angry at her for pushing me away, I still want to hold her in my arms just to know that she is okay.
A few minutes later, we pull up outside her apartment. I open the door and jump out of the car before we come to a complete stop. Looking around, I wish nothing more than to see her. I scan the entire area, up and down the street, but she’s nowhere in sight… gone.
She’s gone.
I fucking missed her.
Looking down at the envelope in my hand, I read over the note for the hundredth time.
Zane, I escaped Matteo. Will be back in a few days.
I love you, Dove.