Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Alexei slinks with me, then cuts off to the side as I shift along the wall to set up behind Arthur. He notices me immediately but doesn’t look the least bit scared. “Ivan. I wondered if you would come to me tonight. You’re cutting it short on time, aren’t you?”
“And you seem rather calm for a man about to have my blade inside him. And not in a kinky way.” I study him. He does seem unnaturally calm, considering the situation. It should worry me, but I’m too focused on the fact that I’m finally going to get what I’ve been craving.
“You can make your move but know that if you manage to kill me, you’re going to get your dearest friend killed.”
My eyes shift to Adrian, who appears perfectly content talking to Cilla near the bar. Val and Kai are at the other end of the room. Of course, he’d have Kai go with her. For the first time in my life, I understand what it means to have my heart vulnerable outside my chest. If something happens to me, it doesn’t matter. If something happens to her, well, I can’t survive that the same way.
“He looks fine to me. Maybe don’t worry about my friends and worry about yourself?”
Arthur steps closer, giving me the opening I’ve been waiting for. All I see is him, and he blocks out my view, or thought, of anyone else. It’s not how I planned, but I sink my blade right into his gut. With such a sharp knife, it takes nothing to twist and shove it farther into his frail body. “You see, unlike you, I don’t need to focus on anything but my prey. You do know what they call me, don’t you?” I lean in and whisper, pulling him close and pushing the knife deeper. “The animal. The maniac. The killer. All the things they’ve said about me over the years. And you thought you could beat me at my own game?”
A dribble of blood spills over Arthur’s thin lips, and for the first time in a while, I smile and watch. He coughs once, then chuckles, a loud raspy liquid sound now that his lungs are filling with blood. “You might have killed me, but like I said, you also killed your friend.”
I shift my gaze one more time, taking my eyes off the dying man, to seek out Adrian.
But he’s no longer where I left him. The sounds in the room start to register through my pounding heart and adrenaline.
Time skips.
I release Arthur to fall to the floor, blood staining his clothes and my hands.
People scatter out of the way, leaving me a trail right to Adrian. He’s down, but then I see Cilla, flat on her back on the floor, a stain spreading over her skin the same color as Arthur’s.
Val is gone. Kai is gone. Andrea is gone. All escaped through the rapidly dwindling crowd.
Alexei stands a few feet away, restraining a woman around the neck, a gun pressed into the side of her body.
I drop to my knees, sliding to reach them. “What…”
Cilla’s eyes are closed, and she’s pale.
Adrian is holding her stomach closed with his hands. “She saved my life. This woman made her move, and Cilla pushed me out of the way, taking a bullet.”
His voice reaches me, but all I can see is her. “Come back, Priscilla. Don’t you dare leave me when I haven’t told you what I need to say. Come back to me.”
35
CILLA
All I can hear is him whispering over and over to come back to him. It’s in my head, reverberating like a gong. If gongs are sexy as hell and turn me inside out.
The night comes back in snatches. Adrian shouting. Val murmuring softly. Ivan whispering over and over to me as I lie flat on my back. The cold marble beneath me.
There was music and dancing, Ivan looking so good in his tuxedo. I spent time talking to Adrian and enjoyed seeing his softer side as he gazed after his wife standing with Kai.
I don’t know what drew my attention. The quick move she made or the way her hand flew up unnaturally. I reacted out of sheer instinct. One my father beat in to me over the years. If he hadn’t beaten me or let others beat me, I might not have developed such a keen sense of perception to remain as safe as I could.
I blink my eyes open, and it takes a few tries to get them to stay open. The room is dark, and there’s a heavy weight on the side of my bed. I reach out, and my fingers slide over the top of Ivan’s stubbled head.
He jerks up, and my hand falls away. “You’re awake.”
I stay still, keeping him in my sight like I’m afraid he’ll disappear the second I glance off. “I guess I am. Or this is a very painful, very weird dream. What happened?”