Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
“They will find him,” I say surely, despite the horrible feeling in my bones. This is all unexpected, and the men weren’t prepared. God knows what could blow up next. The house and its grounds. It’s been targeted before. Another shudder. “Come on, we have things to do.” Distract her. I don’t know who I’m trying to kid. I’ve been in Pearl’s shoes, more than once. And I’m here again now. Distraction doesn’t work. But strength and faith do.
“I never spoke to him,” Pearl murmurs. “I never shared anything about anyone here.” I hush her, believing her, as we follow the Vikings up the steps. I drop my bag by the door.
“Nolan’s room?” Tank asks over his shoulder, Ella lifeless in his arms.
“Yeah.” Beau runs ahead and opens the door, standing back, and we all follow them in. He lays her down on the bed, and I move in on one side with Beau, while Doc assesses her on the other side to determine what we’re dealing with. Doc takes her pulse. I check her head. Beau’s cell beeps, and her thumbs work across the screen before she slips it onto the nightstand and starts scanning Ella's body. “Brad. He was checking that we’re back.”
Pearl sits on a chair in the corner, watching. “Her pulse is good,” Doc says, moving to her head. I give him space. “Whatever she was hit with, it was blunt. There’s no blood.”
“His fist,” Pearl says quietly. Beau and I turn toward her. “He would have punched her in the side of the head. It’s the quickest, most effective way to disable someone.”
I stare at Pearl in horror. How almost blasé she is about it. And I remember the exact same numbness as I look at my arms. The scars.
“No, Rose,” Beau says quietly. “No.”
I shake myself away from those memories. Away from the punches in the gut, the constant times he forced himself on me. Nox Dimitri was pure evil. But he’s dead. And I’m not. I’m living. Sometimes my life feels like a psychological thriller, but I’m living.
Ella stirs, her eyes clenching even though they’re already closed. Relief gets me. “Ella,” Beau says, getting closer, holding her hand. “Ella, it’s Beau, can you hear me?”
Pearl comes to the bed and joins us, taking Ella’s other hand while Doc continues his assessment. “Ella,” he says. “How are you feeling?”
“Like a boulder hit me in the side of my head.” She reaches up and winces, touching the side of her head, and Pearl flicks a look at me. Then Ella seems to register where she is and with who, and her eyes snap open, looking around. “Nolan,” she says. “Where’s Nolan?”
“They’re looking for him,” Pearl says. “Everyone is looking for him.”
“Why? Where is he?” She tries to sit up. “Oh my God.”
“Easy now,” Doc says gently, encouraging her back down to the bed. “Tell me if anything else hurts.”
“Where is he?” she murmurs, her eyes welling.
“What can you remember?” Pearl asks, eager for information. “Tell me.”
Ella scowls at thin air before her, straining to remember. “Brad said Nolan was in the green container, to give him fifteen minutes.” A shake of her head, probably to clear the fog. “I waited thirty and was getting worried. It was dark, and I called for him, but he didn’t answer.” She turns a watery gaze onto Pearl, her lip trembling. “So I used my cell to see. My ex was in there. Shot. And Nolan was on the floor. That’s the last I remember.”
Her ex? What? I look at Beau, and she shrugs. I have to pull myself together. These girls, too young to be here, are depending on us. I clear my throat and move in, but before I make it to Ella, before I even try and attempt to reassure her, Beau intercepts me and jerks her head toward the door. I go with her, letting her close the door behind her. I exhale, my palm on my forehead. “What the fuck is this nightmare?” I whisper. “Have you seen Pearl’s face? How fucking terrified she is of that man, whoever the hell he is.” I start pacing, breathing, shoving back the wretched memories that I honestly thought I had under control.
“Rose, I know what’s going on up there,” Beau says, pointing to my head. “You have to stop letting this fuck with your head.” I laugh but stop when she gets up in my face, her expression stern and determined. “Nox Dimitri might be dead, but he’s winning every second you give your mind to him.” She squeezes my hands. “Do not give your emotions to a ghost. I need you to focus.”
I don’t have a chance to listen to Beau and work on that focus. We both hear the sound of ringing. Both look at the door. I burst in and see Pearl staring down at a cell. Not hers. Brad has that. Beau’s.