Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“Make sure he leaves,” Cassian tells the soldiers.
“I’ll make sure,” Jet says, standing, jaw set.
15
CASSIAN
Enzo hauls the beaten man to his feet.
“Rami’s here?” Allegra asks, half out of her seat, hands gripping the edge of the table so hard, her knuckles are white.
Shit. I didn’t intend on giving that away. He’s the soldier who survived the shootout at the Maestro’s house.
“And you didn’t tell me?” she asks.
“I didn’t want to upset you. I was right.”
“No. You don’t get to decide that. Where is he? Where the hell is he?”
She takes a step toward Enzo who is half-carrying half-dragging the beaten man toward the crypt.
“Hold on, Allegra.” I wrap my hands around her arms, step between her and them.
“I want to see him. I want to see that bastard. Let me go!”
“Allegra. Relax.”
“Relax? He held my arm down. He did this to me! He did it and… and… He’s here in this house and you didn’t tell me!” Her voice breaks. Tears wet the skin around her eyes, and she shoves at me, trying to get past me.
“He’s the closest thing to finding Malek, Allegra,” I tell her firmly.
“He won’t know where he is. And even if he did, he’s not going to tell you!” she fights to get free. “Let me go!”
“No, Allegra. Stop.”
“How could you have him here? In this house? With me?” Her eyes are huge and panicked and I understand her anger. Her fear.
“You’re safe. I’d never let him near you. Never. I didn’t want to upset you. Look how upset you are. You needed to heal.”
She shakes her head, more tears coming. “Let me go!” She tries to push past me once more as Enzo returns. “He’s not going to last long,” Enzo says.
Shit. I need to talk to him. Find out who paid him to deliver that gun.
I draw a deep breath in. “I need to handle this. We’ll talk after.”
She’s shaking her head, furious, face flushed, the pulse on her neck beating wildly.
“I made you a promise. I won’t go back on my word, Allegra. Trust me, please.”
But she won’t listen. I don’t think she can. She’s too panicked, too caught up. The rug pulled out from under her. I turn to Enzo. “Give me your gun.” He hands it to me. “Take her,” I tell him. He comes forward to take Allegra.
“Don’t you dare. Don’t you fucking dare!” she screams, fighting. Enzo is gentle, but he’s also firm.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. I tuck the weapon into the back of my jeans and walk toward the crypt because I need to find out who sent the gun. Because if Severin is bringing him to me half-dead, I think it might be worse than I imagined. Because Severin Blackstone sending it would be easy to handle. Something I can make sense of. But if it’s not him, I’m running out of people and the ones remaining are too close to home.
I use the flashlight on my phone to guide me down the stairs toward the crypt. As I reach the bottom of it, I see the light from a battery-operated lantern. They’re more effective than a flashlight down here. I’ve left Rami in pitch black since he’s been here. I’ve only questioned him twice and both times, he’s pissed me off so much I’ve mostly just beaten him.
Now, Rami is sitting in the small cell in one corner and the man Enzo brought in is shackled by his ankle the wall. He’s lying on the ground and he’s so still I wonder if I’m already too late.
“Not going to get much out of that one,” Rami says with a grin on his face. His bruises are an angry purple and I decide I’ll add to the collage once I’m through with this man. But for now, I ignore him.
I crouch down and check the pulse of the man on the ground. It’s faint, but he’s got one. He opens his eyes and looks up at me. Well, I think he’s looking at me, but his face is so swollen it’s hard to say.
“Get up,” I tell him, standing and hauling him up with me. He grunts when I set him on the bench. I find I have to hold him to keep him upright.
His head drops down. I pull it by his hair to make him look at me.
“You’re going to die today. Very soon actually. You get to decide how that’s going to go. I can keep beating you or I can deliver a bullet. Up to you.”
He swallows tries to speak. After two attempts, he glances beyond me. I follow his gaze to the half-drunk bottle of water. Fine. I get up, bring it over and let him take a sip which mostly runs down his chin, but too bad.
“Bullet or a beating?” I ask.