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)
An inhale, long and deep. Calming. “You’re quite good at debriefing.”
“I learned from the best.” I stare at him, my face as straight as his. “So what are you going to do about Anya fucking Dimitri?” I ask.
“I’m not going to do anything.” Danny’s cell chimes and he lifts it, looking at the screen, his eyebrows slowly arching as he reads whatever he’s reading. What the fuck is he reading?
“You’re doing nothing?”
Danny pushes away from the counter and walks out, and I watch, astounded, as he leaves me alone in the kitchen. “No.” I go after him, following him to his office. Tank and Fury stand either side of the entrance. I expect to be blocked, but they let me pass. And Danny leaves the door open for me to enter.
Anya is on a chair, Goldie guarding her, and the other guy is front-down on the rug, Ringo standing over him. I notice there is no Brad. He’ll be with Pearl. I swallow down the tennis ball wedged in my throat. Please be okay.
Danny sits on the edge of his desk and drags a gun off the wood. “I’m not going to do anything,” he repeats, looking at me, holding the gun out. “You are.”
I accept the gun, half shocked, half thirsty for Anya’s blood, as Danny folds his arms. “This is Stefan Dalca.” He nods to the guy on the rug. “He’s the dumb fucker boyfriend of this sweet thing,” he says quietly, looking at Anya. “Nox Dimitri’s baby sister.”
My mouth falls open as I look at Anya. She has a sneer on her face still. She is not here because she has been forced to be here. She’s here because she wants to be.
Danny pulls a cell from Anya’s backpack. “The code.”
“Du-te dracului,” she hisses.
“That sounds like a no.” He sighs, throwing the cell to Otto. “Well, given King asked for his virgin intact, I’m going to assume news that Pearl is no longer a virgin hasn’t made it to him yet.”
“How did you come to be with the Polish?” I ask the obvious question. She doesn’t answer.
But Danny does. He stands and smiles at Anya. “Mind if I give my wife a bit of background information?” he asks, as I peek across to Otto. He’s on his laptop. A constant, real-time stream of information.
“Your wife betrayed my brother!” Anya screams. “She is a whore!”
Danny laughs lightly, a worrying edge of psycho laced through it. I wouldn’t blame him if he backhanded her. But he won’t. Even The Brit has limits. He turns to me. “You gonna let her speak about you like that?”
I step in and crack Anya across the face, the connection stinging and deafening, the mark on her cheek instant.
Then I step back before I get carried away.
“There was a time many months ago,” Danny begins casually, “when The Russians and the Polish were working together quite nicely under The Bear, AKA Beau’s mother, who, as we all know, met quite the spectacular death at the hands of her daughter, our very own little ninja, or, as her fellow cops knew her, Lara Croft.” He smiles. It’s dark. Then he turns it onto Anya. “The Poles and the Russians. Friends once upon a time. That soon went to shit when egos, power, and money got in the way. And us. We got in the way.” He pouts. “You’re not talking, but Brad’s confirmed you knew about him and Pearl, and, like I said, King doesn’t know, so something tells me you might be batting for Sandy. There is only you and that cunt over there.” He looks at the man face down on the rug. “You couldn’t very well take us down on your own, so to get revenge for your brother, as well as information for Sandy, who is passing select information on to King, you went to places you completely underestimated, didn’t you, you sick little bitch? To earn your stripes, maybe earn some cash, and reinstate your family’s name and reputation.” He leans down. Smiles. “Am I right, or am I right?”
She spits in Danny’s face and shouts a whole load of Romanian as he slowly wipes his cheek.
“Did you really think Sandy would ensure your safe departure from this situation?”
“I will help anyone to make sure you get what you deserve for what you did to my brother.”
Danny rests his hands on the arms of the chair and gets his sneering face up in hers. “You mean when I sliced off his depraved, bald, ugly head?” he asks. Anya can’t conceal her shock. “You know, the sound it made when it hit the ground was like a rugby ball plopping into wet mud. And it rolled a little way too.”
I’m not looking at my husband right now. I’m looking at The Brit.