Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
He stepped back out and Francis closed the gate.
“Hurry,” Francis said. “I’ll slow them down, but you must leave. And Beckett, remember that forgiveness is next to godliness.”
He didn’t stop to ask what the brother meant by that. He had to get Kim and apparently all her friends out of here and find a way to get to Sicily in the middle of a storm. He stepped out from under the stone roof of the tunnel and onto the large plaza. It was big, and he didn’t know where Kim had gone. Fuck. Was she trying to get away again?
The chopper started a descent, and he could barely see Owen in the pilot’s seat. The ladder unrolled and he hoped whoever was coming with them had a steady stomach.
“Kim!” He shouted her name because they were running out of time.
She ran from behind another set of gates, and she wasn’t alone. He almost felt his heart stop. She had a child in her arms. Not a baby or a toddler. He had to be five.
Or six. Yes, that kid could be six. Six years and some change.
He felt like the breath had been knocked out of him. Then he knew it had been because a man came running behind her, carrying a bag and a backpack.
The rain didn’t matter. It couldn’t change his vision, couldn’t make him think that he was seeing a ghost. He knew that face, knew the set of those shoulders and the grim look in the man’s eyes.
His brother was running toward him. His brother. Her uncle hadn’t been mistaken when he’d spoken before. Her uncle had been talking about Ezra Fain, who was alive.
Forgiveness. This was what he’d been talking about.
Kim stopped a mere foot away and the child in her arms stared back at him, his arms around his mother’s neck. “I need to know you’ll protect him. I’ll explain everything, but I need you to take him. If you can’t stand to look at me, take him with you. Even if you can’t forgive me, please save our son. Roman, this is your dad and he’s going to make sure you’re safe.”
This is your dad.
Kim was talking about him. She hadn’t run because she was afraid of him. She’d run because she’d been desperate to get to her son. Their son.
“It’s true.” Ezra came to stand beside Kim. He was standing there as the rain shifted from pouring to a drizzle. “He’s your son, Beck. I know you’re angry with me. I promise I’ll explain everything, but I need to go with you. I can get us off the island. Hate me later. Save your wife and son now.”
He forced himself to move but his limbs felt numb. He didn’t have time to think. Owen couldn’t stay in that position for long, even though the storm seemed to be abating. They would have to move very quickly if he didn’t want to get taken in. What would Levi do to this boy? “Give him to me. I’ll take him up.”
The child—Roman—clung to his mother, but she whispered something to him and he let himself go into his father’s arms.
His son. He wrapped an arm around his son. “Hold on tight, son. I won’t let you go. I promise.”
Roman clung so tightly he nearly cut off Beck’s breath, but he climbed that ladder.
When the chopper took off, he was still holding his son.
Chapter Ten
Kim paced the small kitchen and wondered if Beck was going to completely ignore her. How long could he do it? The wait was making her sick, and that was saying something considering the fact that she’d spent two hours traveling by helicopter and then small ship in the middle of a storm.
She’d managed to be solid through all of it. She’d made it through Owen and Jax being utterly shocked at the sight of her. Well, she thought they were pretty prepared for her. It had been the sight of Roman and the real Ezra Fain that had thrown them. They hadn’t actually known who Ezra was until Beck had introduced him.
This is my brother who’s supposed to be dead. He’s been living with my ex and raising my child. He can get us a boat that isn’t being watched by Levi Green. Work with him.
That was all he’d said. Then he’d gone into one of the bedrooms of the safe house and changed clothes. When he’d come out, they’d immediately gotten into a van and traveled to a small marina where they’d made the passage to Sicily in rough waters, and then made their way to this small townhouse. Beck had stayed in the wheelhouse with Jax. Owen had proven that while he could fly almost anything, boats were not his thing.
Ezra had taken care of him, instructing Kim on how to hold pressure points to alleviate Owen’s nausea until he’d been able to find Dramamine.