Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
The train had its own perks.
Twenty hours where my little rabbit would be trapped with nowhere to run.
Twenty hours where she would learn her lesson.
She would take her punishment for fighting me.
Then she would learn to be grateful for my protection.
She would learn exactly what it meant to belong to me.
I waited.
Let her settle in.
Let her believe she had won.
That she had escaped.
That she was safe.
Ten minutes passed.
Then I started my hunt.
I moved slowly.
Carriage by carriage.
One by one.
I walked through the train, searching, taking my time.
I was in no hurry.
Let her think she had a head start.
Let her savor it.
Because when I found her, it would be over.
I passed the two assholes who had been eyeing her before. They had already moved on, their attention snagged by another woman in their carriage.
Smart.
They had no idea how close they had come to making a very dangerous mistake.
I kept moving.
One carriage at a time.
Closing the net.
Tightening the trap.
And soon…so very fucking soon…I would have her.
She could fight, she could scratch, she could scream my name with that defiant, pretty mouth of hers. It wouldn’t change a damn thing.
She’d be mine.
Caged. Cornered. Caught.
With nowhere left to run.
CHAPTER 12
MARINA
After several agonizing minutes, the train pulled away from the station.
I took a seat near the back entrance of the car, my back against the wall so I could observe anyone who got on or off. The woman sitting next to me had her hood up, a sleeping mask over her eyes.
I couldn’t have asked for a better seat.
It should have been enough to make me feel safe. Relief should have been coursing through my veins, but my shoulders were still tense.
I still flinched at every loud sound, sweat still dripping down my spine.
I wanted to relax, but I just couldn’t.
Something was off.
I would swear I could feel him. There was an energy in the air that told me he was close.
Maybe it was the gravity of the situation pressing down on me, the adrenaline needing time to wear off. Or maybe it was just my paranoia refusing to let me rest.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling. A primal awareness. I could feel eyes on me, examining me, studying me. A predator watching its prey from under the cover of darkness.
I stared at my reflection in the train window as the dark shadows of trees and fields flitted by, the city lights already in the distance, half expecting to see a pair of glowing yellow wolf’s eyes over my shoulder.
I shivered and wrapped my arms tighter around my middle, focusing on the click-clacking hum of the train’s metal wheels whirring over the tracks, taking me further and further away from danger…from him.
So what was causing my jumpiness?
It wasn’t the douchebags joking and catcalling women as I passed them on the platform. They gave me the creeps in a different way, but they were in another car, harassing someone else.
This was something different. Something far more...sinister.
I sat against the window while I scanned the faces around me. Everyone in the train car seemed lost in their own world—either staring at their phones or huddled down in their seats, their necks at awkward angles as they tried to get some sleep.
I shook my head. I was being paranoid. An unavoidable consequence of constantly looking over my shoulder.
If you chased after monsters long enough, you’d find one.
Not a single person was watching me or waiting for me.
Everything was as it should have been.
Still, I couldn’t relax.
My heart still raced.
My skin was too tight. Sounds were too loud, the lights too bright.
Something was definitely off.
Staying in my seat, I looked around the cabin as best I could, searching for anything that seemed out of place, anyone who didn’t quite fit.
As far as I could tell, I was the only crazy one.
Still, Kostya was not the only one after me. Although I was pretty sure Solovyov sent him, that didn’t mean Solovyov wouldn’t have sent others, or even have come himself.
Or what if Solovyov didn’t send him? What if he came to kill me himself because he blamed me for Veronika’s cheating? I didn’t cause it, but I knew about it, and I didn’t stop it. Would that be enough for him to see me as culpable? As responsible?
Was adultery a crime that could have an accessory?
Veronika had made a fool out of him. If he’d expected her to be a true wife and she slept with someone else, that was an insult that would have to be answered.
Pushing my hair forward over my shoulders, I covered my face and lowered my head, determined not to draw any attention to myself.
The swoosh of the door opening at the front of my carriage was barely audible.
Icy air pushed through the cabin.
The cold blast froze in my lungs as my body stilled.
I didn’t… couldn’t… look up to see who had just entered the train car.