Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
I saw the footage.
“I’m sorry,” Sebastian says from the back of the Grand Cherokee SRT. The black SUV sits in the shadows. With tinted windows and an engine that can hit sixty miles per hour in four point eight seconds, it’s our go-to vehicle, armed and equipped for anything coming our way.
We got it years ago so we could haul ass after making hits.
As we sit idle along the forest two miles away from the Talvery estate, I don’t give a fuck about speeding away from anything. Not without Aria.
“She was going to run however she could,” I mutter under my breath at the driver’s seat, excusing Sebastian.
“Still…” he mumbles, running his hand through his hair. He can barely look at me and I hate it. It’s not his fault she ran. It’s not his fault she got away. It’s mine.
The wheel is hot under my grip and everything inside of me is pushing me to get out and storm the front doors of her father’s estate.
Which would leave me dead on the polished marble front steps.
She’s so fucking close, but out of my reach as the neatly trimmed bushes that line the path to the door sway with the wind on the screen. I’ve only been closer to this property once in my life.
At the mercy of her father when I was just a boy.
I swallow down the memory as the car door opens and several men with machine guns approach Nik’s beat-up truck.
That fucking prick.
My heart slams in my chest when I see her. Her brunette locks tumble around her shoulders. Her shirt’s torn and there’s still dirt covering half of her ass all the way down her leg.
She doesn’t carry herself like the girl she used to be. Her head is held high and her shoulders are straight, but the fear is still there, dancing in her doe eyes.
As much as she can’t hide that she’s a woman meant for this life, she can’t hide the fear it brings her to be caught in the middle of a war either.
Aria doesn’t stop looking all around her as Nikolai ushers her into the front door, looking over his shoulder in the direction of the camera we’ve hacked into. As if he knows we’re here.
It’s only when the men surround her, that I realize how quiet it is in the SUV.
The shame and regret hardly register anymore. Shame from the way I’ve treated her. And regret for it all.
“I’ll do better by her,” I tell them and still not a damn man speaks up. I see Sebastian nod in my periphery and I have to close my eyes and take in a steadying breath before opening them to see Nikolai’s hand on the small of Aria’s back. And then the large front door closes.
“It’ll be different when the war is over,” Jase offers and Sebastian agrees. As if any of it is because of the war.
“It’ll be less complicated.” Daniel chimes in.
“Less need to fight,” Declan adds.
It was never the war though. It’s my fault.
Knowing Nik’s with her eases some of the strain coursing through me. The jealousy is present as always, but I don’t have time for that. He’ll protect her, and that’s the only saving grace I have right now. Nikolai won’t let a damn thing happen to her, and I owe him for that. I know more about Nikolai than any other Talvery man for one reason. He’s the one who was always with Aria. He’s the one I wanted every detail on. And he does love her, I know he does. I owe him more than I’ll ever let him know.
He can be her hero for the moment. He can protect her.
I don’t give a fuck if I’m nothing but the villain who captures her.
The villain who holds her against her will until her will changes.
The villain who will put an end to this war and to the empire her last name gives power to.
The villain who will stop at nothing to have her completely.
And the rest of me, whatever is left, the rest of me will belong to her. Always.
I don’t have a choice; that is all I’ll accept.
And she’ll learn to accept it too.
“We already know the place, and we have the count on the men.” Jase is the first to get to business. Tonight, Talvery will finally fall.
There are eight men at the front entrance. Another four towers along the tall brick walls that surround the property. Each of them with a handful of men armed and ready.
There will be even more men inside. They’ll have to die as well.
“Wherever we hit will be a distraction,” Declan says as if he’s thinking out loud, “but they’ll also send Talvery into the safe room.”
“We need to contain him and Aria too if we can,” Jase responds to Declan’s statement, leaning forward in his seat to stare at the blueprints on the tablet.