Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“What are you going to do with me?” I asked while willing my head to clear so I could think.
“I don’t want nothing to do with you,” the big guy said, squatting next to me. Then he put his big, meaty paw on my knee and moved it up my thigh. “Well, maybe there’s a few things I might want with you. Pretty little thing like you really should know better than to be with a man who can’t protect her.”
“You’re here because of Harrison? Why?” I asked.
I knew why. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who this man was and what he wanted. He was part of the O’Murphy clan, and he wanted to punish Harrison for pursuing a case against them.
“It’s just a job, it’s nothing personal, kitten. Your little boyfriend was looking into our crew, and we don’t like that. So when someone offered us a lot of money to force him to stop, well, who would turn down a win-win scenario like that?”
“So you kidnap me? I’m just a paralegal.”
“Oh honey, we know you are much more to Mr. Astrid than just a secretary.”
“Paralegal,” I corrected with a growl.
If Harrison insisted that I never refer to myself as a secretary or anything that could be seen as lower than the station which I had earned, I certainly wasn’t about to let some random thug try to demean my hard work either.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter. See, we need your boss to drop the case against us. And to stop sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“You think kidnapping me and taking me from him is going to make him stop looking? If anything, you’re going to set a fire under his ass, and he’s going to bring down everyone you’ve ever even met.”
“No, we have the assurances from someone in his inner circle that the second you’re out of the picture, she’ll make sure he drops the charges and stays out of our business. She has leverage.”
“Nobody has that level of control over Harrison,” I said. “He doesn’t answer to anyone. No one chooses what cases he does or doesn’t touch. He is the district attorney. He decides what cases are pursued.”
I didn’t know why I was trying to explain the basic chain of command in a law office to this guy. I didn’t expect him to realize his mistake and let me go. I wasn’t that naive. But something told me to get him talking, listening to anything.
Maybe I could buy time. I had to believe that Harrison was looking for me, and if he was looking for me, if he was coming for me at all, I needed to give him as much time as possible to find me.
“Oh, honey, no. This isn’t someone who has sway over him professionally. I’m talking about the person who holds the Astrid purse strings. See, they don’t like you cozying up to their son. Something about you not having the right pedigree.”
“Not a fucking dog,” I gritted out.
“Really? You look like a stuck-up bitch to me. Sitting there tied to a fucking chair, and still looking down your prissy little nose at me. You ain’t shit. You’re just the bitch that thinks she is too good for her own kind and keeps sniffing around men who don’t belong to her.”
He sucked his teeth in a disapproving way, like he was reprimanding a small child for taking two cookies instead of one.
“If you know what’s good for you,” I said, glaring at the man, “then you will let me go before Harrison finds you. And he will find you.”
The man threw his head back in laughter when he stood back up. The hand that was on my thigh flew through the air, and he backhanded me hard enough that the chair I was in tipped over and I went tumbling to the floor.
My mouth filled with the taste of blood, and my side ached where I had landed. My head was still throbbing, and being struck and then hitting the dirty concrete made it so much worse. The room around me spun as he grabbed the chair and pulled me back up.
“Now, kitten, I don’t think you’re very long for this world, but you might want to watch that little whore mouth of yours, or your last few hours are going to be very unpleasant.”
The man turned and walked out of the light, leaving me alone as far as I could tell. I had no idea who else was in the room, if anyone. I didn’t know if people were watching me or if I had any chance of escape.
I let my head hang down as low as I could as I tried to get some semblance of control over the pain radiating through my skull. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run; my entire body was shaking, I was so scared.