Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
“Look at you, always quick to save everyone else around you. Everyone except me, of course.” I hate how my words come out with more emotion than I intended. I’m not used to dealing with this much emotion running through me, which is another reason to keep Brooke as far away from me as possible. My feelings for her made me weak, and they’re still making me weak if I can’t keep them out of my tone.
But I can’t stop. It’s like my mouth has a mind of its own.
“What’s the plan? Is he going to meet you back here and whisk you away to your new life? Is he going to step in and help you raise my baby?”
The idea of any other man being a father figure to my kid makes my body shake with unchecked rage.
Brooke’s eyes widen with shock, and I feel like I’ve hit the nail on the head, and my fists tighten to hard balls at my sides.
“I have nothing to do with him. I told him to leave me alone.” Her eyes narrow. “And I don’t need anyone to help me raise my baby, do you understand? I am capable of doing that on my own.”
“Well, that’s not your choice now, is it? That baby is going to have you and me to raise it. And no one, not even an ambitious pizda like Agent Michaels, is going to stop that from happening.”
She stands up. “I told you, I have nothing to do with him. I told him to leave me alone.”
I can’t help the scoff that erupts out of me. “You expect me to believe that?”
“If you don’t know me by now, and if my word means so little to you, then we have nothing left to talk about.”
I disagree. “We have a lot to talk about. And it’s not gonna happen in this shit hole of the motel. You and Henry are coming back with me.”
“Like hell we are.”
“You speak as if you have a choice. But let me be clear… you don’t.”
“What are you gonna do, kidnap me again?”
“Yes, Miss Masters, that is precisely what I am going to do.”
29
BROOKE
I should probably be afraid of what Lev is going to do once he gets me back to his estate. But I’m too pissed off to be scared. In fact, I am furious. He thinks I ratted him out to the feds. After everything I’ve done. After every word I’ve kept. After everything we’ve been through. He dares to question my integrity.
He doesn’t look at me. Just stares straight ahead like he’s a robot. Back straight. Shoulders tense. Jaw tight. Dark energy radiating off him like antimatter.
Whereas, I can barely sit still in the back of the car for all the angry energy tearing through my body.
I read somewhere once that babies can feel what their mothers are feeling inside the womb. So I tell myself to calm down. But being calm is too big a mountain to climb right now. Not when the asshole responsible for making me feel this way is sitting right next to me as still and as incommunicative as an Easter Island statue.
My anger bubbles up inside me, and I decide it’s better out than in, so I turn to the man who has become the bane of my existence and tell him exactly what I think of him.
“You have some nerve accusing me of going to the feds.”
“It’s not an accusation.” He doesn’t look at me. Just keeps looking straight ahead. “I have the pictures to prove you did.”
“I admit I met with him. But only to tell him to leave me alone.”
“You really expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
Finally, he turns his head to look at me. His eyes are cold and dark. “Are you telling me he didn’t offer to speak to the parole board to keep Todd Bastik in prison?”
“He offered, but I turned him down.”
“You’ll have to be a little bit more convincing than that. Bastik was denied parole. Thanks to your little friend in the FBI.”
That detail manages to break through my red-hot anger, and I’m grateful that Todd is still behind bars. Even if it makes me look guilty. But I don’t give a damn if Lev believes me or not. The fact that he’s even questioning my word when all I’ve ever done is stand by it, well, fuck you very much, Mr. Pakhan.
“That had nothing to do with my conversation with Agent Michaels.”
He looks away. His jaw is sharp. The muscle in his cheek is twitching. He’s more than angry at me. He’s furious. And not just about me meeting with the FBI. He’s angry at me for leaving.
I cross my arms and turn away to look out the window.
What did he expect me to do?
Play happy families when the world around us was burning down?