Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
He gripped her face, catching the hair whipping around her. “I’ll go back. I’ll find him.”
His words didn’t reach her ears, but she read them on his lips and saw the promise in his dark eyes.
“I’ll go with you.”
He shook his head and pointed behind her. “Go.”
Steel arms encircled her from behind, and she turned, falling into the warm, familiar eyes of one of her roommates. “Martin!”
A tether ran from his harness to the helicopter. Evidently, he’d been lowered on some kind of pulley system.
Her chest squeezed as she absorbed the worried expression on his handsome face. Damn, she’d missed him, and the roar of the wind made it impossible to tell him as much.
A gust smacked her sideways, and she braced her legs to remain upright. Cole held her in place as Martin quickly attached a belt around her hips, between her legs, and secured the contraption to his. Then he shined a flashlight into the darkness overhead.
The harness pulled tight and his arms even tighter as they were lifted into the air. The blades beat the wind against them like a hurricane.
With her heart in her stomach, she stared down at Cole and demanded with her eyes. Find him.
He stared back with a silent vow tensing his face.
Digging her hands into Martin’s shoulders, she held her breath and closed her eyes. She had to trust Cole to go back to the island, but it left her feeling completely useless and terrified as that boat sank farther away from her feet.
When they reached the helicopter, hands grabbed, and arms pulled, until she was lying on her back and safely inside the aircraft.
Familiar faces filled her view. Smiles. Cheering roars. Even a few wet eyes.
“Kate!” Camila tackled her as soon as she was disconnected from Martin. “Fucking shit, girl! You’ve given me a dozen heart attacks.”
Matias nodded at her from the cockpit. She caught a glimpse of Luke’s red hair, before Ricky hauled her into the seat beside him and strapped her in. Martin plopped down on her other side, and the helicopter’s nose dipped as it raced into the night.
The blaring noise from the blades made conversation difficult, but she felt their relief and happiness pouring off them. Four of her old roommates had shown up for her rescue—Martin, Camila, Ricky, and Luke—and she suspected Tomas and others were waiting at Matias’ Colombian estate.
After being gone for four months, it was surreal to be sitting here with them. A consuming, head-spinning kind of surreal that crashed in with a flood of pain.
Her eyes burned with that achy feeling that always came right before she cried. She tried to hold back the tears, but they were persistent and full of so many conflicting emotions—gratitude, fear, joy, desolation, and hope.
She was finally free, and it hurt to the depths of her soul.
The one thing that mattered most in her freedom was missing.
She needed Tiago.
Whether he joined her in her freedom or took it away, she just needed them to experience whatever came next together.
Eight people have been arrested after Saturday’s apparent assassination attempt on the President of Venezuela. The President survived the ambush after several drones dropped explosives on his dinner party at a private residence, an attack he blamed on opposition activists and Colombia’s president. Thirty-seven people are confirmed dead. Twelve others are still missing.
Kate powered off the TV and stared at the blank screen, her voice brittle with pain. “Tiago’s alive.”
A throat cleared. Feet shuffled. Someone sighed.
Sitting in one of the many living rooms at Matias’ Colombian estate, she was surrounded by her friends. All of them. Liv and Josh, Van and Amber, Camila and Matias, Tate and Lucia, her roommates—everyone was here, seeking refuge within the cartel’s stronghold while awaiting the verdict on Tiago Badell.
No one trusted him, and maybe that was smart. As long as she was separated from him, they weren’t safe.
Cole Hartman had returned to the island as promised, but after a night of searching for Tiago and Arturo, he came up empty.
The next day, he went to Tiago’s penthouse and slipped past the building’s supposed impenetrable security. Everything was still there, but the entire staff had vanished, including Boones.
That was four days ago.
He hadn’t been able to confirm the list of casualties on the island. The President had buried that information. No surprise. Most of the names at the party belonged to the sort of unsavory people no president should be associated with.
Cole assured her he would learn who died and who was missing, but it would take time.
Didn’t matter. She already decided Tiago was alive. She just needed to figure out how to find him. That was the tricky part.
Tiago had enemies, and now they knew who she was and what she meant to him. The moment she stepped outside of Matias’ fortress, they would find her.