Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
It’s been almost three minutes by the time we reach the open gates of the elitist community they live in, but those three minutes have the potential to change my world.
I race through the open gates, Ace in the SWAT truck coming in right behind me as I weave through the winding streets. Ace doesn’t let up, keeping right on my ass, and as I find the familiar house, I aim straight for the driveway and slam my foot down. My truck roars with its mighty power, and as I barrel toward the security gate at the end of the driveway, I tighten my grip on the steering wheel.
Within the very next second, I collide with the gate, and the force tears it right off the hinges, sending it flying up over my truck and crashing to the ground behind me, just in time for Ace to roar in after me, crushing the gate under the weight of the SWAT truck.
I speed right up to the top of the driveway, not stopping until my truck is directly beside Harper’s Honda, and as I cut the engine and throw myself out onto the driveway, the SWAT truck screeches to a halt behind me.
Police sirens sound in the distance, and while they got the call at the same time as my team, they’ll never be able to match our speed. The boys pile out of the truck, suited up and ready to go, meeting me by the front door, already falling in line.
If this were any other case, any other women, I would take the time to plan out our attack. I’d check blueprints, work through the ins and outs of the building. Figure out hostages versus assailants. I would do my due diligence. But not tonight.
Izzy is bleeding out on the ground, potentially already dead, the twins are God knows where with a woman carrying a gun, and Harper . . . fuck. Harper is in the hands of my brother.
Ace and Diesel are right on my six, and as we make our way to the door, Diesel hands me a bulletproof vest and my gun. Without skipping a step, I suit up just moments before I step up to the massive front door.
I slam my foot against the expensive wood, breaking the whole fucking door right off its hinges with ease, and the moment it flies out of my way, my team floods in.
After finding Elias’s fucked-up little basement a few weeks ago, I had my team run exercises based on the very layout of this property, and as I point both to the left and right, my team breaks up into three smaller tactical response teams, already knowing exactly what they need to do.
As they sweep the property, clearing it room by room, Ace and Diesel remain on my six. I lead them straight to the living room. “Izzy,” I tell them, preparing them for what they’re about to see and giving them everything I know, needing them to be on their game when they see her. “She’s down. Gunshot wound. Potentially lethal. Mae is armed and took off with the twins.”
“Harper?” Diesel asks, his gaze sweeping through the insanely big home.
“Elias has her,” I say, refusing to let my voice break. I can crumble later. Right now, these girls need us to do what we do best. “We’ll check the basement, but he knows we’ve found that. My gut’s telling me they’re long gone.”
Ace nods, but his expression morphs into horror as we turn into the living room and find Izzy motionless on the ground, blood pooled around her. “Fuck,” he grunts, racing ahead as Diesel and I cover his ass, quickly scanning the room and making sure it’s clear.
Ace drops down beside Izzy, his fingers immediately pressing to her throat, frantically searching for a pulse. “Come on, baby. Please. Please. Please. Please.” His expression darkens, his face beginning to fall as the seconds tick by, and then just as he looks up at Diesel, his heart on his sleeve, his expression morphs again, his eyes widening in shock. “Oh shit! I’ve got a pulse.”
Diesel drops down beside Ace, grabbing Izzy’s bloodied pajama top and tearing it down the center, searching for the wound before applying pressure, and doing everything in their power to save her, but until that ambulance gets here, there’s not a lot they can do.
They’re each covered in blood in seconds as I hear the subtle sounds of my men clearing the mansion room by room.
A door is kicked in from the upper level, followed by the sound of tiny screams, and my back stiffens, realizing the boys have found the twins. Only a commotion breaks out a moment later, yelling and screaming tearing through the house, followed by one single gunshot.
My feet pound against the Italian stone, soaring up the stairs two at a time when I find Mae face down on the plush carpet, Hunter hovering over her while fixing cuffs around her wrists. “The girls?” I ask him wide-eyed.