Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“What are you doing?” Zervas asks. I turn to look at him and see that he’s half watching the road and half watching me. The look on his face can only be described as tense.
“I had an appointment with Liberty this afternoon. I’m going to call her to let her know that I won’t be available,” I invent, then immediately go back to tag my stuff.
“Leave your phone back there. Liberty’s number is programmed in mine. Call her on that and tell her you’re fine.”
Tell her I’m fine? I frown, looking at Zervas. “Why would I tell her that? I am fine. Right?”
He looked up at me and for a second something slithers across his face that sets off warning bells inside my brain.
“Of course,” he says, but my brain is screaming one thing. He’s lying!
Shit. “I’ll just use my phone. I’ll text her we have an ongoing chat there.”
“Helena. Sit down and put your seatbelt back on and use my fucking phone.”
Wow. Okay. Wow. Zervas had never cursed at me since I met him. That panic inside of me started to build higher.
“Zervas—”
“Damn it, Helena. Do as you’re told.”
“I’m not a child. I’m an employee and that’s it. That does not give you the right to talk to me like that. Now, I will use my fucking phone and I will call my friend,” I huff, being pissed more than terrified at the moment.
I turn back around to grab my stuff. I need it close by because at this point, I’m going to bail out of this car, and I don’t even care if it’s moving. I’d rather take my chances than stay in this car with Zervas if things keep going like they are. I almost touch my purse when pain sears through me. I feel a hand yank on my hair so hard that my neck wrenches in an unnatural position. It’s so painful I feel a pop in my neck. I go still, but I don’t get a chance to try and figure anything out because he yanks me back into the seat.
“I’ve got a lot on me right now. You need to sit your ass in that seat. Call Liberty so she doesn’t get her fucking biker in on this shit. That means you convince them everything is good, and I swear to God, Helena you better do that.” Okay, apparently Zervas knows that EZ has started seeing Liberty. How did he know this? I would ask, but that’s the least of my worries.
I need to focus. “What’s going on here, Zervas.”
“There’s shit going on and you need to do what I say. If you don’t neither one of us will be breathing by the end of the day. Now fucking call Liberty!”
Immediately, my anger took a backseat. It did this because there was too much panic and bone curling fear were swamping me. I wanted to call Marco. I’m pretty sure if I did that on Zervas’ phone it would be bad. So, I do the safest thing I could. I call Liberty. I pray she answers because I’m totally lying out of my ass. We don’t have a scheduled meeting. She’s already let me know that EZ doesn’t want her art anywhere near the gallery—which was part of the reason I began wishing I was back in Athens to begin with. Of course, the biggest reason was because I missed Marco so much it hurt.
Pushing those thoughts away, I tighten my grip on the phone, realizing that I’m trembling so bad there’s no way I can dial it. Shit. I take a deep breath, close my eyes and immediately Marco’s face comes to mind. His eyes twinkling, his face gentle in the way it always was when he was feeding me dinner or just holding me. I didn’t appreciate that enough. I didn’t let it calm me the day I heard his brothers, and I didn’t realize that when he tried to blackmail me into marriage, he was doing it all because he wanted me. Suddenly, I don’t give a shit if he has a hero complex. I need a hero.
Right now, I just need his arms around me, his gruff voice telling me everything was going to be okay.
“Put it on speakerphone,” Zervas growls.
Shit.
“Hello,” Liberty answers.
“I’ll put it on speaker, hold your horses it’s just ringing right now. You have to give me time, Zervas.”
“Watch your mouth, Helena,” he warns coldly.
I swallow down the bile that threatens to rise as I click the phone over to speaker. Liberty being Liberty is quick to understand—thank God. She says hello again, but this time she does it in a way that makes it sound like the first time she has—at least I hope that’s what Zervas thinks.
Dickhead asshole of epic proportions. That’s what his name shall be from here on, I decide as I force myself to speak. “Hey, Lib, this is Helena.”