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)
No, Kara wasn’t his. No one owned her.
I blinked my bleary eyes at Jason.
“I’d like to stay with my wife tonight.” He released his hold and stepped back. “Can I trust you to stay put?”
“Yes,” I lied.
His eyes narrowed. “Okay. I’ll sleep in the hall.”
Two of Ethan’s men arrived in the morning with black duffel bags of supplies. Guns, tear gas, bulletproof vests. My last stop before leaving Munich had been to the bank. Jason had told me to get all the cash I could get my hands on without raising suspicion.
I couldn’t tell who these men worked for. Fletcher wasn’t CIA because he was British. Tony sounded American, but he operated differently than Ethan. He wasn’t into the details and seemed excited about the raid, like maybe he was an adrenaline junkie. Was he a mercenary?
Both men took my money without hesitation.
The wait took forever and the clock was a fucking liar. Twenty minutes took an hour and a half. At five minutes to nine, L went into the hotel room Jason and I had stripped to look as generic as possible. We didn’t want Juric to have the slightest idea we were in Trier and potentially close.
Her kiss to Jason had been ferocious, her hands clasped on top of his that rested on her belly.
All of us men stood in my room, huddled around my laptop since it had the largest screen. We waited in total silence, tense. The computer in L’s room was mirrored here, the application running full screen. In the corner, the small box showed L waiting, her face blank.
Whatever emotions she was feeling, she’d shoved them down so her expression was controlled and maintained.
A dialogue box popped up on the screen, announcing a guest wanted to join the call. L’s shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, then the cursor slid over to click “Accept.”
I had expected it to be Juric. It wasn’t.
L put a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry.
I’d never had so many emotions at once. Overwhelming relief at seeing her. Concern for her wellbeing. Fury at the man who’d put her in that state.
Kara’s eyes were dark and sunken like she was exhausted, her skin pale. There was the bruise on the left side of her face. Faint scratches on her arms led down to the ugly red marks on her wrists. Chaffing from the handcuffs she was wearing. She sat on a couch, dressed in black pants and a simple gray shirt that matched her weary eyes.
Despite all this, I could see she wasn’t broken.
Far from it. She had fight and fire beneath her whipped facade.
“Hey,” Kara said as soon as she saw her sister’s reaction. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“Oh, God,” L choked out.
“What about you?” Kara asked. “Is everything okay with you?”
I knew what she was asking, that she meant the baby. They’d positioned the camera angled up on L and had her seated, so it wasn’t obvious she was pregnant.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” L’s voice went cold. “Where is he?”
“I’m here,” Juric said, coming into frame.
He sat beside Kara on the couch, right beside her, and I wanted to reach through the screen and rip out his fucking throat. For putting his hands on Kara. For everything he’d put my brother and sister-in-law through. For what had happened to my company.
His ugly blue eyes needed to shut forever.
“Motherfucker.” Jason’s posture stiffened, like his entire body had seized with rage.
“You look different than the last time I saw you.” L’s voice was emotionless, as Jason had explained was best. Her ability to keep herself controlled was impressive, given her overwhelming hatred for the man sitting beside her sister.
“Yeah. You do, too,” Juric said casually.
“Please don’t hurt her.”
“I’m not going to.”
She didn’t look like she trusted that for a fraction of a second. “What do you want? What can I do to get you to let her go?”
“Stand up.”
She hesitated. “You want me to stand up?”
“Yes.” The bastard was annoyed that he had to repeat himself. “Pick up the camera and show me there’s no one else in the room.”
She scooped up the laptop, and the camera went on a chaotic journey around the room. She did so good hiding it until she returned to her chair, and her belly was visible as she sat.
“No,” Jason gasped.
What was Juric going to do when he realized? Would he take it out on Kara?
“Satisfied?” L asked, her voice flat.
He didn’t answer right away, but otherwise there was no reaction. “I am.”
“Tell me what you want. To work out a trade?”
Ethan put a hand on Jason’s shoulder and kept him in place. He’d been none too pleased with his wife’s suggestion, even if it were a lie.
But Juric smiled and shook his head. “You don’t have anything I want.”
“I . . . don’t understand.” There was a tremor in her voice.