Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 90276 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90276 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
I noticed the muscles in Deck’s arms twitch and yet he remained completely stone-still, eyes on his target, waiting for the moment he could take a shot.
Kai chuckled and it sounded odd in the tense situation. “And you think they’ll let you live? You’ve kidnapped one of our own to what … bring her to them? If they wanted her ‘in’ they would’ve done it years ago. They don’t, Tanner. They won’t kill her. And if you do, they’ll make you beg for death.” Tanner’s hand shook and the knife scratched my neck. I tried to lean back into him as far as I could to avoid the blade, but he wasn’t paying attention to me; he was looking at Kai and I knew he was scared.
“Let her go and we can stop this,” Kai said taking another step toward us.
I inhaled sharply as he yanked me closer. “No. He can’t have her.” Tanner looked at Deck. “I’ve been the one looking after her.”
“No connections, Tanner. You know that. They’ll never allow it.”
“You should talk. I heard about that London girl. Heard she hasn’t begged yet. I wonder how much longer it will take them to break her.”
Deck stepped forward and grabbed Kai’s arm.
Tanner laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s why they don’t like us forming relationships, because you react foolishly.”
I glanced over at Tyler and Vic who stood on either side of the window. I knew they weren’t blocking it because Josh was a sniper and most likely outside, waiting for the right moment when he could one-shot Tanner. I just hoped if he did, Tanner’s knife didn’t slice into my neck as he fell.
“Lower the guns,” Tanner ordered. Deck nodded to his men and they put them on the floor. There was no chance they’d barge in here without a plan. They were operatives. “Kick them over here.” I heard the scrape of metal gliding to Tanner. He was careful to keep me directly in front of him. “Knife, Kai. It’s just as deadly as their bullets.”
“More so,” Kai said. There was the cockiness he always had and in a way, it made me feel better. He wasn’t worried—not that Kai was ever worried. Kai bent down then slid his knife across the floor.
I looked at Deck, begging him with my eyes to look at me, to tell me this was going to be all right. But he wouldn’t. His gaze was pinned to the figure behind me and I knew why. Deck was the killer right now. The hunter. The assassin.
Kai straightened. “What are you going to do? Wait here for hours until they make contact?”
“Keys,” Tanner ordered.
I noticed a change in position as Deck now stood ahead of Kai and then he finally looked at me.
He didn’t have to say anything. He barely had to move. I read him like his men did. His eyes shifted to the right and then his fingers started curling into his palm one by one.
Five.
Four.
Kai reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys. “Here.”
Three.
Two. Kai threw the car keys to Tanner.
One.
It happened so quickly. At the same time as Tanner reached for the keys, I shifted my head to the right as far as I could which threw us off-balance. The sound of a knife whooshed through the air and embedded right in his chest, missing my arm by an inch. Tanner dropped and I went with him.
Within seconds, I was dragged off him and the rag was ripped from my mouth. Deck’s arms came around me as he cradled me to his chest. I could feel someone’s hands on my wrists, undoing the belt, and the instant I was free, I wrapped them around Deck’s neck and sobbed into his shirt.
I sobbed for what I’d done. For the lies. For the purging. For bringing Deck and his men into this. I cried for us; for the years we’d lost. But most of all, I cried for my brother because I was finally realizing how bad this was and the hope I had when Deck told me he was alive was now drowning in the fear of what he was involved with.
Vault … they owned me. They owned Connor and Kai, and now London.
“I can’t get out. Can I?”
Deck stiffened as his hand stroking the back of my neck stilled. “No.” And that was Deck. He wouldn’t give me false hope. He knew what I was involved with was too big for him. “But I won’t let them have you. If we need to disappear, I’ll make it happen.”
Yeah, and that was Deck, too. He’d do whatever it took. Tanner was dead. He was the only one who knew that Kai told Deck about them. That I knew the truth. Until the message Tanner sent was read. “Tanner sent a message.”