Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“I know Peter doesn’t like the choice I’ve given you,” Ivan said.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m helping Peter fill in the blanks. He had one of the worst starts in life. All he has ever had to do was survive, to fight. It’s all he knows. He doesn’t know what love is like, what it means to have a real family. I mean, fuck me, he doesn’t even celebrate his birthday.”
At the mention of his birthday, this drew my attention. “His birthday?”
“Yes, he doesn’t celebrate it, because he doesn’t know how.”
This made me frown. “When is it?”
“It wasn’t something his father ever celebrated.”
“Tell me,” I said.
Ivan raised a brow.
I rolled my eyes. “I know what you’re trying to do, and yes, it is working, and I am also reading what you’re not saying as well.”
Ivan smiled. “What am I not saying?”
“That Peter doesn’t know what love is, but if I’m able to show him, then maybe there’s a chance he might love me back.” It was a long shot, and it was crazy.
Ivan chuckled. “I always knew you were pretty special.”
I looked at Ivan. “I met you five years ago.”
“Your point?”
“Why did you wait so long?” I asked.
He didn’t speak and in fact, he looked past my shoulder. “I’m in this for the long game,” Ivan said.
“A game?”
“It’s what life is, Niamh. It’s a game, and also, when you make a certain play, you’ve got to make sure all your players are lined up and ready. I had to get everything into play, and even you had to be ready for Peter.”
I looked at Ivan and frowned. “You weren’t ready,” I said.
He didn’t say a word.
“You were hurting and in pain, and all you wanted to do was end your life,” I said.
“Don’t think you know me, Niamh. A lot has happened in five years, trust me, I came for you when it was your time.”
And with that, he got to his feet, and then gave me a date that was in three weeks’ time. “That’s Peter’s birthday, and he has never gotten a single gift, or card, or cake.”
Ivan left, and as he did, my three guards came back through the door.
I didn’t get the whole truth from Ivan, but I did know one thing. His wife may be gone, but the memory of her still lived in him, and that pain was driving him to do what he was doing.
****
The Butcher
“Have you finished playing matchmaker?” I asked as Ivan stepped out into the underground parking lot of Peter’s building.
“Not quite.”
I stared at Ivan, who had asked me to drop him off. For the past couple of days, he, The Beast, and I had been on a hunt. He’d done the final push on removing the men that surrounded Finn Byrne, and now it was about crumbling the protection detail that had been keeping him safe, and also well-kept. It would seem a lot of people owned Finn a great deal, including a shit ton of money as well.
Had he told Niamh her mother was dead? She’d been one of the first women I’d killed after we’d gotten Niamh to safety. I had expected her to ask me about it, to ask about her mother. Nothing.
I got the sense that mother and daughter were not exactly close. The more I learned about Niamh’s life and her family, the more I realized I had a much better upbringing than she had, and I’d been raised around death. Although, I had been trained to be the woman I was today, and I knew that was quite terrifying to most, certainly to some men.
When it came to my job, I was a fucking expert, but then I also wasn’t afraid to get dirty. Blood didn’t bother me. Pain was a comfort to me. My uncle had trained me well. I was the best at my job, and it also helped that I was able to blend in wherever I needed to go.
Ivan was playing a long game. I’d heard many rumors about him. Some a little more far-fetched than others, but what I had come to realize is there was no one box to tick when it came to Ivan Volkov. He was a crazy, calculating, manipulative, patient monster. He was a full package of trouble. I couldn’t help but admire him.
Whatever Finn Byrne had done to this man, Karma was being a right bitch to him. Ivan had his sights set on him, and he wasn’t going to let it go. He wouldn’t give up. Finn was all but a dead man, and yet Ivan was taunting him.
After I killed Niamh’s mother, Ivan had me send the body to Finn, which had been a bit of a problem, but I had done it.
From what I knew, that body had been dumped in a lake. Next, Ivan had given me the order to work on the oldest kids, so I did. One by one, I took them out, and it was quite easy to do, seeing as most of them were fucking bastards. The boys were a law unto themselves. Evil to the core, as were the girls.