Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
She was all cried out, but she clung to me, let me run my hands down her back and through her hair.
Until, overwhelmed by the events of the day, she drifted off to sleep.
I held her for another half an hour before I slid out from under her, pulling up the covers, then making my way out to the living room to find that Serano had invited himself into the condo.
“Check this,” he said, turning the volume on the TV, and a newswoman was talking about the assassination attempt on Senator Michael Westmoore. “He remains in critical condition,” she concluded before Serano muted the TV again.
“No one knows she was the real target,” I concluded, making my way to the kitchen to grab a bottle of scotch off the cart. “Want one?” I asked as I reached for a glass.
Serano nodded and I poured him a glass before throwing mine back.
“Has Renzo called yet?” I asked as Serano passed me my phone, having left it in the car in my rush to get Elizabeth upstairs and safe.
“‘Bout eleven times.”
“Did you answer?” I asked, tensing.
“The last one,” he said, nodding.
“And?” I asked, impatient.
“Said to call him.”
I reached out and he slapped my phone into my palm as I poured another drink.
“Renz,” I said when he answered.
“The fuck, El?” he asked, voice rough.
“It’s been crazy. I know I should have called, but Elizabeth was freaked the fuck out.”
“Do the cops know?” he asked.
“That she was the real target? No.”
“Think the shooter will talk?”
“A Bratva enforcer? Unlikely,” I said. “Are things still on for tonight?” I asked, thinking of the plan to have one of ours take out a member of a local, disloyal crew and frame it on another crew that was wrapped up with the Russians.
“Yeah,” Renzo said. “If anything, I think this might make shit easier. They will be too distracted by the arrest to investigate this too much. Any chance there were any Russians around the senator’s building?”
“I doubt it. The press and cops were out in force. They wouldn’t want to accidentally be caught on camera.”
“Were you?” he asked. “Caught on camera,” he clarified.
“I parked far enough down that even if someone did catch me in the background, it would be blurry as fuck.”
“Okay. She alright?”
“Freaked out. But I got her to sleep.”
“This has to stop,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. I’m going to tell her that when she wakes up.”
“Alright. Let me know how it goes.”
“Will do,” I agreed, hanging up.
“Tell her what?” Serano asked, watching me.
“That this has to stop,” I told him.
“Yeah?” he asked, one side of his lips curving up.
“What?” I asked.
“Can’t tell her she’s yours,” he said. “But can tell her what to do?”
“It’s a safety thing,” I insisted.
“Sure,” he agreed, finishing his drink and setting the glass in the sink.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m on guard,” he said, making his way to the door and letting himself out.
Alone, I sucked in a deep breath. I’d been so focused on calming Elizabeth down that I hadn’t gotten a chance to wrap my head around the panic I’d felt at hearing her say someone had shot at her.
As much as what I said to Serano was right—that you couldn’t just claim a woman—I also had to admit that she was starting to feel that way. Mine.
And I had to figure out what I was going to do about that.
“Elian?” Elizabeth’s voice called, making me turn to find her standing in the hallway.
“Hey, sorry, just had to take a phone call,” I said. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Any word on the senator?”
“Last report I saw was that he is alive but in critical condition,” I told her. “Can I get you a drink?” I asked, waving at the bar. “Or coffee?”
“Ugh,” she said, nose wrinkling.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you wrinkle your nose at coffee.”
“It was a long day even before the shooting,” she admitted. “There was a lot of coffee.”
“Food then?” I asked, figuring she wouldn’t have had time to eat if she was that busy.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“Pizza?” I asked.
“You make pizza?” she asked.
“Yes,” I admitted. “But I was going to order in to make life easier.”
“In that case, can we get garlic knots too?” she asked.
“Anything you want,” I said, taking a minute to order the pizza as Elizabeth fed Kevin.
“I got it,” she said when I hung up.
“Got what?” I asked.
To that, she pulled out her phone, clicked around, then set it on the island.
Within a second, her voice came through the phone’s speakers. And then the senator’s voice as well.
Admitting to colluding with the Bratva.
Thanks to her gentle nudging, he did so in explicit detail, making it impossible to misunderstand his meaning.
“Wow,” I said, giving her a smile. “You did it.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, sucking in a deep breath. “But… maybe all for nothing,” she said. “What if he doesn’t make it?” she asked. “It’s all my fault.”