Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Once the phone was open, all it took was a few voice commands to call Var.
I let him know where I was and told him to get his ass over here and cut me loose.
It took him several minutes to stop laughing.
Then several more to find Anton and Mac, putting me on speaker so all three of them could enjoy my predicament.
Friends or not, I was going to kill them all.
After they cut me loose.
Once Var finally hung up, exhaustion hit me like a freight train.
And despite my fury, despite the vengeance I was already planning, I let my eyes close and gave in to it.
I drifted in and out of an uncomfortable sleep, one filled with her.
Marina.
I saw her in my bed, naked and panting beneath me as I claimed her.
Then, she was running.
Running from me.
I chased her, calling her name, pushing harder and harder, but no matter how fast I moved, she kept slipping further and further away.
Then she stopped.
The wind whipped her long blonde hair around her face as she turned, opened her mouth—
And then Solovyov appeared behind her.
Gun raised.
One shot.
A sick, crimson heart formed over her chest.
No…not a heart…a bloodstain.
She fell.
Her lifeless body hit the ground, blood soaking the earth beneath her, then Solovyov turned to me with that fucking grin. His teeth bloody as he sneered, "You never deserved either of them. Anything you want, I'll take. Just because I can."
My eyes snapped open.
My pulse pounded against my skull, my breath ragged.
Laughter.
Behind me.
Mocking.
Fucking fantastic.
Var’s boot nudged me in the ribs before he crouched in front of me, grinning. “We have got to stop meeting like this.”
“Cut me loose.” My jaw clenched as I forced back the lingering terror of my dream.
I was going to need this rage.
“When you called, I thought you were just fucking with me.” Var smirked.
The laughter behind him doubled as Mac entered. “So I guess getting hit on the head by little girls runs in the Ivanov family?”
He’s referring to my cousin Damien’s early encounters with his now wife, Yelena. Cute.
I curled my fingers into fists, my muscles screaming from how long I’d been bound. The second I was free, I was punching someone in the face. “Fuck you, get me out of here.”
“So… how many were there?” asked Anton.
Was this night ever going to end?
“Just cut me free,” I ground out, ignoring the way my face burned from the humiliation.
Marina was going to pay for this.
She was going to fucking scream for this as I spanked her ass red. Then fucked her pussy raw.
Even if, deep down, buried beneath the frustration and bruised ego, a small, infuriating part of me felt proud. My girl was smart. She was tough. And in a pinch, she could handle herself.
Too bad she’d never get the chance to use those skills again.
She was mine now. Under my protection. And I would never underestimate her again.
“Seriously,” continued Anton, his voice full of amusement. “I’m guessing ten? Maybe twenty trained fighters? Big guys. With guns. Because surely the infamous Konstantine Nikolai Ivanov wasn’t bested by a slip of a girl?”
I exhaled slowly through my nose, my grip tightening as I imagined every possible way to kill them when this was over.
“Cut me free now, or I will kill each of you slowly and drink the blood from your slit throats.”
Mac sucked in a breath, shaking his head, arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah…I don’t know how scared I am right now. I mean, if a girl could—”
“Cut. Me. Free. Now. Fuckers.”
The laughter died down.
Var let out a dramatic sigh. “All right, stop struggling. You keep tightening those cords, and we’ll have to cut off a hand to get you loose.”
“I swear to fucking God—”
The smooth swoosh and click of a butterfly knife opening cut me off.
Cool steel pressed against my skin, and a second later, relief. The knots loosened, blood rushed back into my fingers in a painful, tingling wave, and the fire in my shoulders slowly started to subside.
I stood to my full height, rolling my neck, cracking my spine as I stretched out the knots Marina had left in my back.
I was going to be sore.
My little rabbit had put me in one hell of a bind.
I looked forward to repaying the compliment by tying her to the first available bed the moment I got my hands on her.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder—fantasize, really—about what other hidden talents she had.
“So, really.” Var continued to push. “How did this happen?”
“It happened because I underestimated her.”
The words burned coming out of my mouth, but it was the truth.
She wasn’t the daughter of a bratva boss. She wasn’t an enforcer. But she had picked up a thing or two.
It didn’t help that I let the needs of my cock distract me.
It wouldn’t have worked if it wasn’t for that baton-happy cop earlier.