Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
This could be a new beginning for us. A do-over. A second chance. But only if he opens his mouth and gives me more than one-word answers.
“Jag—”
“I don’t want to do this here.” His eyes flick past me, clocking every lens tucked into corners and ceilings. “Not in front of cameras.” He drags a hand down his face. Then he stands taller and squares his shoulders as if trying to compose himself. “I’m working very hard not to come apart.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“You undo me.” His whisper breaks like a confession he hates needing. “You always have, and—” He paces a half-step and turns back. “I need to take a shower and wash the flight off me. Come with me. Please. I can’t stand the idea of you leaving my sight right now. After I clean up, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
If that will help him find his footing, I’m all for it.
“Follow me.” I turn toward the doors Wolf disappeared through and start walking.
“I’ll be honest.” He strolls along beside me, eyes darting everywhere. “I expected to find you confined in a soundproof room. You’ve had free run of this place the entire time?”
“Of course. It’s not like I’m sitting in on their meetings.”
“This is worrisome.” He trails me down a long marble hallway. “If you know too much—”
“I don’t know their secrets, but I’ve gotten to know the inner circle. Some more than others.” A smile tugs at my mouth. “I have my favorites.”
“Who?”
“Luke and I bonded—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
I narrow my eyes. “We bonded over his hypercar collection.”
“He’s a deadly…” He glances at a camera. “Man.”
“He’s married.”
“I know.”
“I adore his wife Vera.”
“Also deadly. She’s an underground MMA fighter. I’m talking fight to the death.”
“Yeah, she’s been teaching me self-defense.”
“Oh.” He blinks.
“Do you know what they call you around here?”
“El Vigilante.”
“The Watchman.” I nod. “I’ve heard them whisper other names, too. The Shadow With A Million Cameras. The Hunter Who Never Blinks. My personal favorite is El Que Ya Sabe.”
“The One Who Already Knows.”
“You’ve heard these.”
“Most of them.”
“You’ve made quite an impression on these people.”
“Attention has a price. This one comes with a lifetime contract and no exit clause.”
I have so many questions, but I’ll hold them until we’re alone.
The corridor spills us into the citadel’s main artery, a massive atrium with white marble everywhere and floor-to-ceiling windows that offer cinematic views of a jungle so deep it could swallow entire governments. Or in this case, a sprawling cartel fortress.
I hear Wolf before I see him.
“Wait, you’re Ricky, and you’re Martin, right? All right, be honest. Everybody knows that ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ is your go-to song when you’re fucking.”
I round the corner as Martin flips off Wolf, and Ricky groans.
“Also, I was told you share your woman.” Wolf scratches his jaw. “Which means I’m gonna need tips. Strictly academic. How do you decide on positions? Do you draw straws? Rock-paper-scissors? Hypothetically, do you rehearse? Or is it all improv?” He holds up his fist. “Poly kings. Teach me your ways.”
They bump him without hesitation.
Jag stiffens beside me, his protective instinct roaring to life. I barely have time to enjoy that before Matias appears at Jag’s side.
“A word.” He strides away, expecting Jag to follow.
“Stay here.” He trails Matias into the shadow of a column, keeping me in his line of sight.
I can’t hear what Matias says as he gestures and grips Jag’s shoulder. Jag nods once, looks away, and nods again. Then he’s back at my side, expression shuttered but resolved.
“What did he say?” I stare at Matias’s back as he strides out of the room.
“He’s giving me a couple of days to focus on you and figure out what we’re going to do.”
“You mean, what I am going to do. Because you can’t follow me back to Alaska. This is your life now, right?”
He nods.
“Will they let Wolf and me leave?” I whisper. “Now that we’ve seen the inside of their citadel?”
“You’ve only seen what they allowed you to see. For all my intel, I couldn’t dig up the schematics of this place. Couldn’t even pin down a general location. It’s buried deep, deliberately unreachable, as hidden and impossible to find as Wolf’s cabin in Hoss.”
“You read his journal.” A flutter lifts my chest.
“Yeah. The night he left it with me.”
I let that sink in as men in dark clothes stream past us, their arms stacked with luggage. Bag after bag after bag. Hard cases, garment bags, duffels, the procession doesn’t stop.
“Did Wolf bring the whole island with him?”
“We had words about it.” Jag makes an amused sound, cutting through the strain.
“Words?” I glance at him.
“He said while I’ve been living out of a bag, he’s been living out of a rich daddy.”
“He’s ridiculous.”
“He brought his tattoo gear with plans to scar the cartel. Optimistically and artistically. His words.”