Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“What else would it be?” the bastard asks, but his words turn into a choked scream when I snap his finger and twist it out of the socket at the knuckle.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's very naughty to lie,” I tell him as his brown gaze zeroes in on me. He doesn’t know me, but he knows my type, and he’s getting scared, because where he expected a regular civilian he found a worthy opponent.
“You ex-military, or something?” he asks, only to cry out as I snap the next finger.
“Answer me.”
“Pay me,” he says with a bloodstained grin, but he can’t sustain the fake tough guy act when I break the next finger.
“I don’t think you understand the position you’re in. I’m not bargaining with you. If you give me the answer promptly, I might let you live. That’s the only the deal you’re getting.”
“Fuck you, asshole! You’re just collateral damage anyway.”
I squint at him but extend my hand to Blake without even glancing his way. “Give me the knife, sweetie. The big one,” I specify because I took two more off this bastard when I restrained him.
Blake hands me the dagger without a word, and our prisoner glances at him over my shoulder, shaking from the pain. “What is it to you?”
“He’s my boyfriend, so if you came here to kill him, it is my fucking business! How did you know where he was?”
When he starts laughing, I’m done playing nice. I grab his nose and start sawing from the nostrils up. The chuckle dies on his lips and turns into a scream before I even get through half of it. Once I’m done, I throw the piece of flesh in his lap as he pants, bleeding all over the bottom of his face.
“You fucking psycho!” When he looks over my shoulder, straight at Blake, I consider taking his eyes next. He struggles to breathe, but his gaze is overflowing with wrath. “Your boyfriend called his brother to get out of here, so I don’t think he loves you very much. Too bad his brother wants him dea—”
My stomach’s plummeting by the time Blake appears right next to me. He yells something I can’t decipher through the thudding in my ears, and then sinks another of the assassin’s knives in his neck. When he rips it out, along with a flood of blood, it’s over.
“Oh God… oh God…” Blake utters as the dagger drops from his hands. He covers his face, only to realize they’re stained with blood, and promptly pulls off his top to clean himself.
Which makes me wonder if his goal is to show off his lovely body to manipulate me further. My blood is so cold I can’t seem to move and all of a sudden the pain between my shoulder blades comes back in full force, like a physical manifestation of the ache in my heart.
I get up, feeling like fury personified. “You did what?” I roar at him and spread my arms.
Blake steps back and hits the wall, his big eyes filled with fake innocence. “I— this must be a lie. Carl would never—”
“That’s why you were so desperate to silence the fucker, you actually stabbed him? What else are you not telling me, huh?” I make sure to stand between him and the door, in case he wants to run. The betrayal hurts more than any physical cut could. We had the best day. I opened up to him. I showed him my craft room! Was he just pretending to like it and biding his time to escape?
“He came here to kill us,” Blake mumbles, hugging the bloodstained T-shirt.
“I told you I’d protect you, and you brought danger to my home! Look into my eyes and tell me you didn’t call your brother.”
Blake swallows and looks at the glass scattered over the floor as his chest sinks in defeat. He knows he’s been caught, and there’s no weaseling out of it now. Still, he tries.
“There were cops at the market. I could have gone to them, but I didn’t, because I didn’t want you to get in trouble. I just wanted to go home, so I called my brother. I thought he’d come and get me, or send someone, or… something.”
I shake my head and stretch my back, because at this point, the pain is a welcome distraction from the turmoil in my head. “And here we are. He sure sent someone. I told you it wasn’t safe, and you just wouldn’t listen.”
Blake takes in a shivery breath, and his eyes start glossing over. Now he’s sad. Too bad he didn’t feel that way before fucking me over.
“I didn’t think Carl would—I couldn’t have known... We’re brothers. He practically raised me.”
“And yet he did! At least now we know,” I grumble, because seeing him so distraught brings me no pleasure. “He now knows where we are, so we need to leave, and I have a body to deal with.”