Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Scared,” I interrupt before he says something that will force me to put him in a grave. “She’s scared but so fucking brave,” I say my last four words loud enough for everyone a mile over to hear.
I’m certain Polina hears them as well, but she’s too frozen in fear to acknowledge my presence, much less blink. She stands as still as a statue. Not even her chest moves as she sucks in tiny breaths.
“Hey, baby girl,” I murmur, my voice more nurturing than angst-filled. “It is okay to come out now. It’s safe.”
When she remains frozen in place, wedged between two thin sheets of aluminum, I realize the scene surrounding her isn’t helping. It smells like death and deprivation—the two things she faced when dragged out of her hidey-hole the day after her father killed her mother.
“Clear the room.” Budimir peers at me as if I lost my marbles, but I don’t give him time to deny my request. “I said to fucking clear the room!” After nudging my head to the dead man at his feet, his face blown off by an automatic assault weapon, I add, “And take him with you.”
Within seconds, only Polina, her father, and I remain.
It is quiet enough to hear a pin drop, so you can imagine how deafening the groans of a man in pain sound.
For once, the grunts aren’t coming from me.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m in a ton of pain, but since most of it is internal in response to Polina’s manic state, I’m confident the noises aren’t coming from me.
After snapping his eyes to the basement door, Brecken pulls a weapon out of the back of his pants before he quietly tiptoes down the rickety stairs.
I can’t believe they didn’t think to check the basement. Their mistake could have deadly consequences, and the acknowledgment of that sees me demanding Budimir to return to the storage room under strict orders not to go near Polina before I back up Brecken’s campaign to properly clear the scene.
The creak of the bottom step under my weight shifts Brecken’s focus to me. He points his gun at my chest, although I’m not one hundred percent sure it is his gun when he returns it to the back of his jeans before he continues removing the ties of the man bound to the boiler.
He looks a lot like the man assisting him—freckled nose and all.
What the fuck?
When Brecken—or a guy who looks identical to him—assists the injured man to his feet, I take a staggering step back.
My response is the same as every woman’s in Kronstadt when Feo and I went out partying together. They thought their eyes were playing tricks on them and that they’d had too much to drink, but the instant they realized there were two of us, excitement overwhelmed them more than surprise.
They thought we were twins.
There are no doubts with these two men.
They’re identical in every way.
With my mind too scrambled to offer assistance, Brecken helps the battered man up the stairs.
I realize I have them mixed up when the twin with a busted eye socket and a split lip mutters, “Polina,” when he reaches the stoop of the stairs.
“Don’t touch her,” I demand when he shuffles her way like his ankle isn’t contorted at an odd angle and being dragged behind him. “She’s paralyzed with fear.”
He nods like he understands before he shuffles closer. “The last time I saw her this bad was the night her mother was killed.” He licks his cracked lip. “She was grubby, and her stomach wouldn’t quit growling, so I didn’t think about coercing her out of her hiding spot.” He shifts his eyes to me, and they glisten as a memory filters through his mind. “I went in gung-ho and scared the shit out of her.” His eyes drop to his shoeless feet. “She had nightmares about it for years. It’ll kill me if I make the same mistake again.”
“Then don’t,” I reply, my snapped words freezing his hand before it brushes Polina’s shoulder. “I think I know a way I can get her out without touching her.” Through bruised eyes and a massive gash trickling blood down his nose, Brecken stares at me like he wants to gut me where I stand when I say, “But I need you to leave.” Ignoring his pfft, I hit him where it hurts. “If you have your daughter’s best interests at heart, you’ll trust me to do this… alone.”
“I can’t—”
“He’s a good kid, Brecken.” The uninjured twin shifts on his feet to face the battered one. “He won’t hurt her.” I realize he’s the man who’s been watching Polina when he says, “He loves her enough to continually throw himself into the fire so she won’t get burned. Although I would have punched the cheating prick in the face before stealing his wallet.” Once he’s standing upright again, he curls his arm around Brecken’s shoulders. “We’ll wait for you upstairs.”