Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 159159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 796(@200wpm)___ 637(@250wpm)___ 531(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 159159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 796(@200wpm)___ 637(@250wpm)___ 531(@300wpm)
Harrington studied his face, seeing too much. “You really love her, don’t you?”
“I married her,” Ice said, and turned and walked out. He had to. He needed to be certain he was under control.
Czar had warned him from the beginning that there were too many leads back to Soleil and that, although they’d tied up everything in a neat package for the detectives, they would want to make certain Soleil was where she was because she wanted to be, and that Winston, who appeared to have killed a lot of people, had really done so.
Soleil had a lot of money. More than he’d first realized. He hadn’t cared, so when Code had whistled and pointed to the amount, he’d barely flicked a glance toward the screen. He had plenty of money. They didn’t need hers. He didn’t even want hers. But her money could have paid for some very experienced hit men. He supposed he couldn’t blame the cops for having that question in their minds. They could look at her financials and see she hadn’t touched her money.
Absinthe had gone over and over with Soleil the questions she was allowed to answer without him sitting beside her. The moment the police were satisfied that she wasn’t being coerced, she was to call him into the room.
Soleil had been trained in the best boarding schools both in the country and abroad. She carried herself perfectly, shoulders and back straight, hands folded neatly in her lap, her head up and no fidgeting. That had been drilled into her and came in handy on so many occasions. She could look haughty and annoyed, or vulnerable and sad, depending on what the situation called for. She had confidence in herself, but she was concerned about Ice.
No one believed someone like Soleil, an heiress to a fortune, could possibly have fallen in love with a man like Ice. Law enforcement actually believed the club had kidnapped her or coerced her into staying with them. They believed the club—and Ice—was after her money. She found it insulting on Ice’s behalf.
She waited for either to open the conversation, betting it would be Harrington. He reminded her a little of Czar, where Deveau was more like Maestro or Keys.
“Thank you for seeing us, Soleil. There’s a lot of people who are very surprised that you married Ice,” Harrington said.
“Because he’s in a club? I love the club and being on his motorcycle with him. Given my past history of adrenaline sports, I wouldn’t call it that surprising.”
“Do you know his real name?” Deveau broke in.
They were going to play good cop, bad cop. She’d heard of that routine. “Of course I know his real name. We’re married. When one gets married, you normally share names.”
Deveau didn’t wither as he should have under her haughtiest, very perfect dry-up-and-die look. He didn’t seem the least affected.
“It is?” he challenged.
She didn’t even stumble. “His name is Isaak, his brother’s name is Dmitry and his sister’s name is Alena, just in case you were going to ask their names as well. My last name is now Koval. Is that what you need to know?”
Jonas sent Jackson a quelling look. “Yes, we did need to know those things, Soleil. Winston Trent made some pretty nasty accusations before his death. He claimed you were being held prisoner, that these men were after your money and that you’ve been ill for some time.”
“Ah, yes. The ‘mentally ill, I need to take care of her and her money’ scam. Do you know how many men actually think that’s going to work? Winston inserted himself into my life and I couldn’t get him out. Kevin Bennet, my lawyer—” She stopped and swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She shook her head to clear it. Every time she thought of Kevin, she wanted to cry.
“Kevin was helping me get rid of him. With Winston, no didn’t mean no. Even after I made it clear we weren’t getting married, he hired an attorney I didn’t approve of, or want for one. I had to go behind his back to get rid of the man.”
“Why didn’t you call law enforcement and file a restraining order?” Deveau demanded. “That seems like the smart thing to do.”
“By the time I realized it would come to that, he had already started his campaign to make me look like I needed to go to a hospital.”
“How did you meet Ice?” Harrington asked.
“In a bar. Winston had gotten very violent. I ran. I’d met Lana in a restroom of all places, and she’d given me her number just in case I got into trouble. They were all in Vegas because Steele and Breezy were getting married.”
“Winston got violent?” Harrington echoed.
She nodded. “I made it very clear I wasn’t going to marry him. He got angry and punched me several times. I was scared and I ran. I ran the opposite way of where I thought Winston would look for me. That way took me away from the strip and down toward the bars.”