Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Now I know why they kept her fucking gagged,” murmurs a voice I’m certain I recognize even with me only hearing it a handful of times.
Yev and his younger brother have different fathers, so when their mother passed, Yev went to the boys’ home and his brother, Feodor, went to live with his father, but it would take more than a change in zip code to keep the brothers apart.
The bangs and pops that rattled through the ship almost forty minutes ago make sense when I’m walked somewhere where the sun can shine through the stitch of the hessian. Gunfire is in the air, but it is minus the metallic smell usually associated with a bloodbath.
Once I’m placed on my feet, the hessian bag is removed. I blink several times in a row to adjust my eyes to the blinding sunlight while the cords stopping me from sprinting are cut with a knife.
I’m almost in for the race of my life before one word ends my campaign before it starts. “драгоценный.”
After blocking the high-hanging sun by stepping closer to me, Alek cups my cheeks, then drags his calloused thumbs under my eyes. I’m sure I look like a mess, but I am unharmed. Anyone game enough to get close to me paid for their stupidity with a foot to the face.
Once he’s confident my pale cheeks have more to do with a squishy, empty stomach than anything, he shifts on his feet to face Kirill. “I did as you asked—”
Kirill cuts him off with a bitterly cold laugh. “You knew of his plans for hours, but you only told me after killing one of my men and stashing him in the hedge for the nuns to find.”
“She’s fucking here, isn’t she? That was our deal.” It dawns on me that Alek was stripped of weapons when he steps up to Kirill chest to chest. There is no outline of a gun in the back of his jeans, no bulge at his ankle. He is as disarmed as me. “And I didn’t kill that prick for Ghost or Katie. I did it because he lied to me.”
“So lying is punishable by death?” Kirill twists his lips before slowly swaying his head from side to side. “Good to know.”
Before Alek can reply, we’re joined by another couple, who are being led to the back of the ship via gunpoint.
Ghost’s jaw tics out of control when his eyes land on Alek and me, but not a single quiver is heard in his voice when he directs his anger at Kirill. “You want to have a good fucking reason for dragging me out here after that showdown.” He jerks his head to the port slowly fading in the distance. “Sniper bullets can travel miles.”
Bile from the lining of my stomach races up my esophagus when Kirill replies, “That would have been handy to know.” He yanks out a gun his blazer wasn’t concealing before directing it at Ghost’s heart. “Would have saved me the cleanup.”
“I’m your fucking brother. You can’t touch me—”
Kirill silences Ghost like I did the goon only minutes ago. Except he doesn’t use his foot. He takes him down with three seemingly slow-moving bullets to the chest.
“No!” Katie screams in a gut-wrenching cry before she throws herself onto Ghost to protect him from any additional carnage. “Hold on. Please.”
I’m torn from the heart-stuttering visual when Alek mutters, “Run, драгоценный. Now.”
My mind is already made up that I’m not leaving without him—especially after seeing how Kirill treated his own brother—but I am even more determined to stay when I learn the reason for Alek’s demand.
Kirill has a gun at his head, and there isn’t an ounce of hesitation on his face. Not even when Katie breaks away from the goon yanking her away from a motionless ghost. “Get her. But don’t hurt her. She is with child. My child.”
Taking advantage of his distraction, I push out with a hiccup, “I can’t leave you.” Alek’s eyes reveal he’ll go down fighting to make sure I am safe. His right hand is balled while his left is flat and braced against his trouser leg. His grab-and-punch routine will give me a three-second head start on Kirill’s men. I just don’t want a head start if it means a life without him. “Please don’t make me do this.”
The contents in my nose spill out when I shake my head to Alek’s inconspicuous nudge to the section ‘our’ boat is tethered. It is obvious, even from this distance, that the winch has been loosened. I doubt it would take much more than me landing in it for it to break free.
My heart breaks when Alek whispers, “Do it for her, драгоценный. Give our daughter the childhood we deserved but never had.”
There is no way he could know our unborn child is a girl, but he was right the first time, so I believe him this time around as well. “Alek—”