Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 108165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
My thoughts return to Archer when he stops on a photo of a woman with a bullet hole where her eye used to be.
A woman.
She must have been bad too. A killer. Right?
“She was a red herring,” Archer says.
I lift my gaze from the photo to him. My insides feel like acid, such an overwhelming feeling of nausea and something akin to grief that I have to fight the urge to buckle over and choke on the bile working its way up my throat.
This isn’t the Jack I know. It’s not real.
“She was sent to distract Jude so her boyfriend could kill him. It was the closest he’d ever come to getting caught, having his identity compromised. She tried to seduce him, and she tried to poison him when that failed. He caught her and…” Archer cringes “…he ended her before taking out her boyfriend an hour later. On his post-evaluation, mandatory after every hit, I asked him how it felt to kill a woman for the first time. He said when he decides to kill someone, they’re no longer human; therefore, they’re no longer male or female.”
Detachment.
Those same hands that touched me intimately, that same finger that he traced down my nose to my lips, and those knuckles that ghosted along my cheek belong to the same man who killed and mutilated those people. Again, I have to look away.
“I don’t blame you for not wanting to see them—for not wanting to see him. But I fear you think I’m the bad guy, and I’m not. I broke ties with the organization and started a new life. I don’t know why he’s coming after me. He’s unhinged. I heard his wife died years ago. I bet he just … snapped.”
“You funded the man who killed his wife. You invested in a different group. You didn’t break ties with everyone.”
A muscle by his right eye twitches. “He must love putting his dick inside of you. There’s no way he casually shared that information with someone he deemed as nothing more than a quick fuck. Perhaps I’ll confess all of my secrets, too, when I’m balls-deep in your pussy.”
No matter how hard I clench my teeth, I can't hide my disgust and swallow the burning bile back down my throat past its growing lump. “Twenty seconds ago, you feared I thought you were ‘the bad guy.’ And now you're confessing your intentions of raping me. Which is it? Are you another innocent victim,” I nod to the pile of pictures on the floor, “or are you a bad person who needs to be eliminated?”
A slow smile takes over Archer’s face. “Depends on the day.”
“Today?”
“I don’t know, Francesca. Why don’t you tell me?” He glances at his watch. “The night’s still young. Will you willingly finish what you started with me on the Ferris wheel? Or are you nothing but a cock tease just asking for it? And when I take what you were, in fact, offering, are you going to scream rape? I mean … I’m sure you’ll scream. And either way, I’ll come harder than I ever have because you, Professor, made me wait so long. And my patience is gone. In fact,” his smile swells, “we have a piano in the other room. Molly was supposed to play it, but she never practiced. Want to know who played it the most?”
A new wave of fear hits me, not because I fear him raping me. I fear what he’s about to say.
“Steven.” He slowly shakes his head. “Your nephew, a goddamn maestro. Molly used to playfully push him off the bench because she said he was making her look bad in front of her parents.”
Angry tears burn my eyes.
“Would you like me to fuck you on the white polished wood? Would you feel closer to Steven?”
“Screw you,” I grit through my teeth.
“We will. Soon. But first, I need to know we’re not under attack. You see, Jude Day is a slippery motherfucker. So, my men are patrolling the perimeter of my property. And they’ll end him if he’s out there. Which I imagine he is because I’d be looking for you too.”
I shake my head.
“No?”
“He thinks I went home,” I whisper.
“Perhaps he thought that. But I’m sure he’s tracking you.”
I shake my head again. “What makes you think your men can kill him?”
Given the pile of carnage on the floor, he knows it's a valid question.
Archer’s gaze drops to the photos. “He’s good, but he’s not immortal. And he’s outnumbered. But I suppose…” the corner of his mouth twitches “…he could have his sister with him.” With a belly laugh, he throws his head back. “Wouldn’t that be something? Has he told you about his twin sister? Fucking Jessica Day.”
With a long whistle, he shakes his head. “Now she’s the ultimate headcase. Jude will kill someone without much thought. That’s why he’s still able to pose as a normal human. But Jessica likes to manipulate her victims. She’ll toy with them because she doesn’t live for the kill like Jude; she likes to watch people suffer like she did. She enjoys bringing people an inch from their last breath and keeping them barely alive until they’re gasping for a way to end their own life just to escape the misery.”