Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “If someone was after Layla because of her gaming, it wouldn’t necessarily be about the money. A lot of people have their whole identity, their whole lives wrapped up in these games. Winning and losing is everything to them, regardless of the purse size. And the vast majority of professional gamers are men—insecure men who do not like losing to a woman. Plus, Layla is well known on Horse Lords, and she’s been targeted by incels before.”
Diego groaned and tipped his head back, his throat moving as he said, “Incels…those little bastards scare the hell out of me. They have literally nothing to lose, nothing to live for—at least in their minds—but their fucked up sense of pride. Everything that has ever gone wrong in their lives is someone else’s fault. Seems like the only time they leave their basements is to kill a bunch of people.”
“Yeah.” I took a seat again, my energy waning as the sun rose higher in the sky. “She got in some kind of…I don’t know, a troll debate with a popular incel guy a few months ago about women gamers. His name was KillAllChads or some shit. I didn’t pay much attention, because a quick background check showed him as being harmless. One of those Internet warriors who spends all his time telling people they’re wrong while living the life of a middle-class loser.”
Leo gave his head a small shake. “For someone who is agoraphobic, she sure has a lot of potential enemies.”
“Speaking of being agoraphobic, it’ll make it easier to guard her,” Diego said with a wry smile.
Closing my eyes, I sucked in a long breath and let it out slowly, telling myself I couldn’t punch Diego in his face—again. “Do not fucking joke about that, got me?”
Lifting his hands, Diego said, “Sorry, mi hombre. No offense was meant. You’re right, it was in poor taste.”
Leo shook his head. “This whole situation is going to fuck with her mind. One of the measures her birth mother used to control her was the threat of assassins. That she couldn’t leave the cabin, or they would kill her. Now, she’s facing an echo of the same situation, but this time it’s real.”
“I know.” My heart hurt as I grit my teeth in helpless anger. “This is why I’ve left her alone all these years. I’m fucking cursed. I knew I’d end up hurting her. Everything I touch dies.”
“Jesus Christ, not you, too.” Diego gave me a dark look. “I hear enough about being cursed from Fernando. This organization doesn’t have enough room for two hopeless martyrs. Neither of you are responsible for other peoples’ fucked up actions. Both of you would have done anything, sacrificed everything, to keep your loved ones safe. You know, you fucking know, deep in your heart that this is not your fault, but your ego and self-hatred have you blinded to the truth. Are you that much of an emotional masochist that you have to sabotage any chance of being happy? Will you ever get over punishing yourself for something that wasn’t your fault? And how narcissistic do you have to be, to make someone else’s death all about you? Fuck, you two are fucking exhausting to be around.”
Before I could go off on Diego—because most of what he said was true, and the truth fucking hurts—Leo met my gaze and held it. “I’m assigning you as head of her security detail while we try to find out who burned her house down and why. You’ll have a team at your disposal, whatever you need.”
My mind began to automatically plan, years of experience as Leo’s right-hand man coming into play. “Should I take her to the safehouse in Canada?”
Leo quickly shook his head. “No. She’ll stay here at your house for the time being. Give her a few days to adjust and give us time to evaluate the situation before we make any moves. Trust me, nobody is going to hurt her while she’s here.”
I rubbed my face, my eyes aching with the need to sleep. “Good point.”
“You look like shit. When’s the last time you slept?”
I glanced at my watch. “Two days?”
Leo grimaced. “You need to go to bed.”
“I can sleep when I’m dead.”
Cracking his neck, Leo stretched his arms over his head. “Layla is upstairs. She’ll be knocked out for at least another four hours. Someone should be there when she wakes up.”
“I should help—”
“Mark,” Leo looked me straight in the eye. “I promise you, we’ve got this. Trust me to take care of your woman like you take care of mine.”
That settled me, and I nodded.
I kind of wanted to argue that I should stay there, the need to deny myself the pleasure of her company an ingrained part of my mind.
But it was too late.