Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 76812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I follow Brielle's voice to one of the bedrooms, and I hate the sight of tears streaming down her face when I push open the door.
"You're going to get me killed," she sobs. "He'll kill us all."
"Ma'am," Rivet begins. "Please calm down."
Brielle snaps her eyes up at my teammate. "When has anyone calmed down when asked to calm down?"
I bite the inside of my lip to keep from smiling because the woman has a point.
"Brielle," I say without stepping further into the room.
Her eyes dart to mine, and I hate the quiver in her lips.
"Beck," she sobs. "What are you doing? This puts you in even more danger. I have to go back."
"That's not going to happen, baby," I tell her and grind my teeth.
The woman doesn't want me, and I need to remember that, but nothing will stop me from protecting her.
"I didn't kill that guard," she says. "Nathan needs to know that."
She's on edge and more than a little frantic as she speaks.
"We know you didn't," I tell her.
Jericho did, and I owe the man everything for his sacrifice.
"We've got to get you out of here. Nathan was able to lose the tail we had on him, so we don't know when he's going to come back."
I hold my hand out to her and I hate the way she looks down at it like it's a weapon I plan to use against her at some point.
"Please, Brielle."
She shakes her head, her eyes roaming all over the room as if she's looking for a way to escape. Less than twenty-four hours back under Nathan's control and he has managed so much damage. It took days and days to get her out of the closet when she showed up at the house Xan died in back in Farmington, and that was only a couple of minutes. I can only imagine how long it will take her to find some form of normal after this.
"Baby," I whisper as I slowly approach her.
Thankfully, Rivet steps out of the way and leaves the room. I know she'll stay close by in case I can't get Brielle to come out of the room. I'd hate to have to manhandle her, but there's no way we can leave her here.
"Beck," she says again, her head shaking as she holds her hands up as if to ward me off.
I pull her to me, but as much as I want to wrap my arms around her, I know I can't.
She doesn't flail around when I scoop her up in my arms like I expected her to, but I know it can change at any moment.
I carry her from the room, through the now empty living room, and out the front door.
There are no signs that anyone else other than our group is active in the darkness, but I know better than to think we're going to be able to get away from here without reports making it back to Nathan. If the man is as diligent as Jericho said he is, I have no doubt that Nathan already knows that we have Brielle.
I place her in the front passenger seat of an SUV and lock her seatbelt in place before rushing to the driver's seat.
We had an evacuation plan in place, but none of the scenarios we worked through had one of the goons being undercover. It certainly didn't account for the death of one of the other goons. This is a huge fucking mess, but it's not my mess, and there's no chance of me sticking around to find out.
I know Kincaid is involved in this process to expand Cerberus into a new chapter, but I'm fairly certain my boss had no fucking clue that Jericho was one of the good guys. I'd like to think that if he did, he would've told me as much to ease my fears.
She doesn't speak when I crank the vehicle and pull away from the curb. She could very easily be in shock right now, and that's something I can work on getting her through later, but right now I just need her safe.
I drive for miles with no plans, looking over to check on her with nearly every other breath.
Blood streaks her face, and I know I can't take her anywhere looking the way she does, and I'm chastising myself as I pull over on the side of the road, cutting the lights on the SUV and turning off the engine so I'll be able to hear or see anyone approaching. After climbing out from behind the seat, I grab the emergency medical bag from the back before going around to her side.
I open the door and take a second to look at her. Other than the blood, I see no other marks on her skin, but that doesn't mean that Nathan didn't hurt her in other ways.