Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“Nothing to say. He’s leaving. The end.”
“That’s what he said to you?” I ask, surprised by this news. I thought Kurt was back to reclaim his life and his empire. The fact that he’s not, tells me there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
“Yes, but you know, I respect him being honest. I do, but I think this is all about him sacrificing himself Luke, and I can’t let that happen. He’s going to kill Phillips if I don’t arrest him first.”
“You don’t have anything that supports an arrest let alone charges. He’s powerful. You need an avalanche of evidence to pile on top of him to even think about going down that path.”
“I get that Luke, but if I have even a hair of evidence against him, I’m going to arrest him to keep Kurt from killing him, I’m going to arrest him.”
I want to fight her on this, to insist she put herself and us first, but I love her and her badge. I just had that very thought minutes ago. Damn it to hell. I release her and turn my back, walking across the room before I face her again. “He’s not going to kill Phillips. He doesn’t know if he’s the king.” It’s a repeated thought. I get that. But it’s a point that needs to be driven home.
“He’s acting like we’ve given him confirmation of something he already knew.”
“He wants Phillips to be the king to end this. That doesn’t make it so. We’ll deal with Phillips. And we’ll control Kurt. We’ll drug him the night of the party and let him bitch about it later.” I close the space between me and her and pull her close. “If we don’t let him do something stupid, he won’t have to disappear again.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It’s not simple, but this is.” I reach for the hem of her T-shirt, fingers sliding to her warm, soft skin beneath.
She catches my hand. “Luke—”
I kiss her, swallowing her objections, and it doesn’t take long before she’s naked, laying back on the bed, and spread wide for me. I lick her nipples and tease her mercilessly with every intention of giving her no time to think about Kurt and who she might arrest. I take my time with her, drink in her sighs and moans, kissing a path to her belly, and, with her plea, lower.
I’m between her legs, my tongue licking her into submission. The problem is, though I know that while Ana is all kinds of submissive in bed, the minute she has an orgasm and puts her clothes on, she’s anything but. As if she’s read my mind, she’s already panting, and grabbing my hair, bucking her hips against my fingers.
She’s going to come, but I’m holding her clothes captive.
We’re going to spend as much of the next twenty-four hours leading up to that party naked as we dare. That’s my intent, but Ana’s barely finished, squeezing the hell out of my fingers, when there is a knock on the door. Holy fuck, I love my brothers in arms, but can a man get a peaceful naked moment with his woman already?
Ana jerks to a sitting position, and scrambles for her clothes. I walk to the door, and creep it open, only to find Adam standing there. The grave expression on his face tells a story and I step into the hallway.
“We have a problem,” he informs me.
“No shit,” I reply. “What is it?”
“Kurt is missing.”
I digest that as the punch of trouble it represents. “Holy fuck. He’s going to go kill Phillips.” I scrub my jaw. “He clearly believes he’s the person behind all of this.”
“He told us as much. Right now, Phillips is on a plane from Italy to the US, which on a side note, gives him an alibi for his son’s murder. Whatever the case, he’s safe. He won’t stay that way if Kurt is after him.”
He’s right. If Kurt wants to kill someone, they might as well dig their own grave.
He’s trying to protect Ana. I know this. But he’s also going to destroy her in the process. And I don’t know if I can stop it from happening. “I need to talk to Ana.”
He gives a nod and I turn away, entering the room. I find Ana standing close, hugging herself. “What happened?”
I step into her, my hands settling on her arms. “Kurt is missing.”
Her chin dips and a heavy breath escapes her lips. “You might as well have told me Kurt’s dead. I’m never going to see him again.”
Chapter Thirty
Ana
The next day, the day of the party, nearly twenty-four hours after Kurt disappeared, we’ve not heard or seen anything of him.
I spend most of that time, working with the Walker team to research Phillips. Turns out, Dexter is almost as good at hacking as Luke, and with Blake and his team at a distance, helping as well, we uncover interesting tidbits about Phillips. There are connections to numerous people on the list of buyers, Darius left us. There are connections between Mike’s brother and several buyers as well. But there isn’t enough to conclude wrongdoing, certainly not enough to say that Phillips is the boss of all of this mess. But we have a plan. Savage and Adam have managed to work their way onto the catering team servicing the party, which apparently is an annual event Phillips holds for charity. Smith and Dexter, along with Blake and his team, will be doing surveillance. Apparently, Blake even has a few extra guys flying in to offer backup, just in case we need it.