Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 30253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Unless I can magically find the evidence I need before then, I’ll be blowing the three long years of progress I’ve sunk into this op. Pulling out prematurely will make my professional reputation suck hairy balls for a while, and I may lose all the clients Ransom and I have worked to acquire, but nothing is more important than the woman I’ll be spending my next fifty years with and the baby we’re having.
I text a code to an emergency burner phone and get the response I need. I’ll have backup in an hour. I have sixty minutes to solve this mess and get out.
“Yeah. How’s Sammie?”
“Asleep.”
“Good. You try to get more rest, too,” I say as I toss on last night’s discarded clothes.
Instead, Kristi stands and pads across the chilly room to me in nothing but her bra and panties. It’s the wrong time to appreciate how sexy she looks, but I can’t not notice the obvious. “What about you? It’s only been a few hours. You hardly slept.”
As much as I’d love to curl up next to the woman who stole my heart and protect her from what might come… “I can’t stay. You’ve still got my Glock, right?”
She nods. “Under my pillow.”
“Keep it handy.” Earlier, I stopped by Donzelli’s suite, where I keep a few toys stashed for special occasions, and picked up a spare. “Hopefully, you won’t need it, but be ready for anything.” The next hour is likely to be fast and furious and all kinds of fucked up. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Alarm flits across her face. “Where are you going?”
Donzelli gave me enough of his rope that I might finally be able to hang him. Yeah, I could simply turn him over now and hope that justice will be served, but bastards like him have a long memory and an even longer arm. I’m going to try like hell to figure out how to put him away and keep him from pursuing a heaping helping of revenge at the first opportunity.
I press a hard kiss to Kristi’s lips, lingering a second longer than I should before I force myself to pull away. I hope like fuck that isn’t the last time I ever kiss her. “To end this for good. I love you.”
When I turn away, she grabs my sleeve and pulls me back. “It’s probably crazy, but I love you, too. Come back in one piece. You promised me fifty years.”
“That’s a promise I intend to keep.”
I’m reluctant as fuck to leave Kristi, but she’s as safe as I can make her until I smuggle her and Sammie out of this shithole. I have an hour to find the evidence to bring this organization down. Time to get moving.
At the end of the hall, I wave to the big guard with the movie-star teeth. He and Ingram are still waiting for their shift to end. “Seen Donzelli?”
“He showed up a few hours ago. Nothing since.”
“Good.” Since it’s barely five a.m. and Marco doesn’t do mornings, he should still be snoozing. “I’ll be back.”
Once I’m past their line of sight, I haul ass to the stairwell, charging up to Donzelli’s suite. Jimmy and his crew hooked up the cameras in the “merchandises’” rooms. Are they set to merely view—or record? If the latter, I’ll handle last night’s footage with Kristi. I don’t want anyone else seeing us together.
Then what? Three years undercover comes down to now. I need hard evidence. The idea of touching anything in Paulie’s whack-off corner in the third-level basement hits my ick button. Sorry, his “command center.” But I’ll get over it. The other problem? Donzelli never gave me the key to the place. But I won’t let that stop me.
There’s no one else in Marco’s suite. Even the casino floor is nearly deserted just before dawn. From here, I can almost smell the puke and regret.
Ducking through the nondescript door tucked into the adjacent hallway, I zero in on the surveillance monitors lining the long wall. As I lean over the desk, I press buttons to change the view. Casino floor, high rollers’ area, hallways, and elevators—no. Café, buffet, kitchens, and south lounges—no. Boutiques, gift shop, concert hall, and meeting spaces—no. Finally, I see the view I need.
My hands shake as I scan the victims in their eighth-floor rooms, most sleeping, sitting nervously, or pacing. And yes, Donzelli has been recording every captive—including Kristi—since they were moved from the basement. Damn that shit stain.
I watch a snippet of me seducing my Little Red. Sal is wrong about a lot of things, but not Kristi. She really does have a great rack. And watching myself make love to her is totally better than porn because I remember this moment. It felt fucking awesome, but being with her wasn’t a mere pleasure. Even though Rudy and Sal watched us—which is still not okay—they’ll never understand because what we shared goes way beyond lust.