Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Ms. Hayward, I’m a friend of the marshal’s.” The tall, intense man’s English was flawless.
“What?” Nerves made my voice shaky.
“My name is Ethan.”
Fear made me slow. This was the CIA agent who’d helped Jason and Laurel escape? “Why are—?”
“It’s complicated, and it’s too dangerous for me to make contact, so I need you to get a message through to him.”
My gut was telling me this man was dangerous but practical and efficient. If he’d wanted me dead, he wouldn’t sit in the back of the car talking to me. He’d have done it already.
This had to be the truth.
“What’s the message?”
His face went hard as stone, and there was an eerie beauty to it. “The Italians never had Juric. It was all a setup. Run.”
Once again, my heart stopped. It resumed at triple speed, pumping adrenaline through my system.
Ethan uttered something else to the driver, and the car eased to a stop. “Tell them I’m sorry,” he said. “We lost control of the situation.”
He pushed the door open and stepped out, leaving the gun on the seat. As soon as it slammed shut, he disappeared into the darkness between two buildings. A man that tall seemed like he’d stand out, but I hadn’t noticed him until he was right in front of me.
No one would answer their goddamn phone, and my hands shook as I typed out the texts. Those went unanswered, too.
In a blink, we were at the brewery.
My stomach knotted and twisted as I climbed from the back seat. Not safe. Run. The word repeated, making me nearly hysterical with fear for my sister.
As soon as I reached security, I asked them to get Jason, but I was too impatient to wait. I dialed Laurel again and let my trembling legs ascend the lawn toward the crowd of partygoers.
It was too loud. No one could hear their phone over the roar of laughter, music, and conversation going on between people gathered at tables. I scanned the faces in vain. Too loud and too many people.
That was when I saw him.
He stood at a cocktail table, a glass of wine in one hand as the woman beside him tried to have a conversation. He could not look more disinterested. If I weren’t so panicked, I might have enjoyed this moment. The woman beside him was attractive and young, and Shawn couldn’t be bothered to maintain eye contact.
My heels sank into the soft grass as I hurried to him. I was two steps away when he noticed my approach, and the warm brown eyes lit up when they connected with mine.
“Where’s your brother?” I said. Not ‘happy birthday,’ or even ‘hello.’
“You’re here.” The different versions of Shawn battled for control. His gaze drifted down my dress, and it was obvious he liked what he saw, but then he remembered he was at a company event and schooled his expression. I could feel his employees’ attention on us, judging me for being near him.
“We have to find Jason. It’s urgent.” Whatever expression was on my face, it did the trick. It communicated that everything else needed to be put on hold.
“This way,” he said, striding away from the woman at the table like she’d never existed.
I followed him through the crowd, his hand on my wrist, pulling me along. I bumped into Diana, the woman I would have reported to, had I taken the job he’d tried to set up. She looked stunned to see me, the snotty American, and that I was holding hands with Shawn Fucking Dunn.
We snaked up to a side entrance and through the double doors into a corporate-looking hallway, and the slightest bit of relief coursed through me when we found Jason. He was alive, and okay, and waited beside a door to a unisex bathroom.
“Hey. I think we’re going to have to leave,” he said when he spotted us. “L’s not feeling well.”
“You’ve got to get the hell out of here,” I blurted.
Both Dunn men straightened, going on alert, and Jason’s eyebrows tugged together. “What?”
“Ethan found me on my way here,” it poured from me in a panicked rush, “and asked me to give you a message. He said he’s sorry, but they lost control of the situation.” My voice lost all its strength. “It was a setup. The Italians don’t have Juric.”
He jolted like I’d shot him in the face. As soon as my words registered, he turned and threw open the door to reveal Laurel. She wore a sparkling black dress and was hunched over a toilet as much as her pregnant belly would allow. Her husband had burst into the bathroom without warning, and her gaze snapped to him, irritation slashing across her face.
“Jason, which part of ‘stay out’ was unclear? I don’t like throwing up with an audience.” Then she saw Shawn and me beside him, and her tone was dry. “Great. You’re here too.”