Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
But on the third try, I get my answer.
Marco pulls out a small black phone from his pocket, checks the screen, and hits decline. At the same time, the call cuts off, and I’m sent to voicemail.
My blood runs cold as I watch Fiora’s best fucking friend turn off the flip phone and stuff it away. My burner phone pings a second later, but I don’t need to check my messages to know it’s Nexxor telling me the phone’s off.
The truth settles into my body worse than a gunshot.
Marco is Mr. Silk.
Marco ordered Mason’s murder.
Jesus fucking Christ.
My brain runs through the evidence, trying to keep up with the truth before me. Either a cop or someone close to the cops. Someone who could block the real investigation. His refusal to help Fiora find Mason’s killer. His sudden shift when he found out I claimed her. What the fuck is on his business card again? Marco Pollozo, Assistant Chief of the Seattle Police Department, marcopolo@seattlepdgov.org.
Realization washes over me.
Marco Polo. Like the fucking silk road.
Like Mr. Silk.
I scramble out of the car, hand over the hilt of my gun. I’m going to fucking kill him. I don’t care about his reasons, his motives, or whatever other lies he spews from his mouth. How dare he try to show his face in front of Fiora? In front of me? He’s the reason for her grief. The reason we’re engaged in the first place. The reason for our lives being turned upside down.
Marco Pollozo is a dead man walking.
In my anger, I slam the car door shut, and Marco’s eyes peel over to me. Shit. They widen when he realizes I’m there, and before I can even blink, he grabs onto Fiora’s arm and yanks her toward his idling car. I run for it, but I’m not fast enough. Marco slams the side of Fiora’s head on the top of his car and forces her into the passenger’s seat so she can’t fight back.
That fucker. I’m just about to reach Marco’s car when a family steps off the curb and right into my path. I can’t stop fast enough. We both go tumbling to the pavement as the rest of the family yells behind us.
Goddamnit. Fiora.
I push the middle-aged man off me. My knee throbs as I stand, but I don’t care. I need to get to Fiora.
Only I’m too late.
Marco’s car peels out of the Denny’s parking lot and squeals off into traffic, leaving me in the dust.
Fuck.
Chapter 37
Fiora
That fucking hurt.
My head throbs, and my vision is still blurry from Marco’s sudden attack. I cling to the handle of the car door, desperately trying to pop it open to no avail. Marco has the door locked, leaving me with no way to escape.
Why did he suddenly attack me? It hurts to think, but it’s better than focusing on the rush-hour traffic on the I-5. All the lights make the headache even worse.
Come on, Fiora. What did Marco say just before he fucking slammed your head against the top of the car? It is all such a whirlwind. He complimented me, asked me to go somewhere quieter to talk. I refused because it was his idea to go to that Denny’s in the first place. It was our late-night haunt when we went to university. It was our place. I wanted to leave him and those memories behind there.
Only Marco had different ideas.
“Quit playing, Fiora,” Marco spits. He drums his fingers against the steering wheel when he gets stuck behind a semi, the sound like a jackhammer in my rattled brain. “I didn’t hit you that hard.”
I don’t answer him. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell he said to me.
“Cat got your tongue, sweetheart?” He laughs so bitterly it makes me cringe. “Or maybe that tongue is busy doing other things? Congrats on the engagement.”
“You already knew. When you called me a whore, remember?” I spit back.
My mouth tastes like iron. Did I crack a tooth? Cut my lip? I glance in the side mirror and see a small gash just below my nose. The top of his car must have busted something.
I need to gain my bearings. Papa always said things like this could happen, and I needed to be ready for anything. Kidnappings, beatings, rape, murder. Everything is possible when the Godwin family makes enemies. And in my father’s line of work, there are plenty of enemies and traitors where that came from.
I just never expected the enemy to be Marco. He’s been by my side for years now. Has always been a gentleman. Hopped at the chance to help the Godwin family and get in Papa’s good graces. Treated me with respect until I became a taken woman. Is that the reason for this whole bullshit? Jealousy? Pride? It can’t be. There must be something more. Something I’m missing.