Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
“Stop flirting with my men.” I turn the lock and face her, stepping into her space. “Stay the fuck away from them.”
“Your men?” She tries to smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “You have more than one?”
“Cut the crap,” I snap, stepping closer. “You know damn well the Strakh men are mine.”
“Do they know that?”
“Why are you so desperate? You come across like a scared, little, insecure girl, aching for attention. Who hurt you?”
The blood drains from her face, and she glances around the bathroom, her eyes darting from corner to corner as if expecting to find cameras or hidden microphones.
Her paranoia lifts the hairs on my nape, and I find myself scanning the space, too. “What are you—?”
She’s on me in a blink, clapping a hand over my mouth and an arm around my back.
I struggle, but she’s bigger, stronger, and Jesus fucking Christ, I’m an idiot. I didn’t think this through.
Coming in here without bodyguards…
Dumb, dumb, dumb!
She pushes me against the wall and closes in, her voice barely a whisper in my ear. “Someone hired me.”
My heart stops, and my eyes go wide, searching hers.
“I don’t know who or why.” Her whisper trembles down my neck. “They paid me a lot, more than I could walk away from. I’ve never taken money from an anonymous client, but I needed it. It was a year ago, and my only task was to fuck Monty and help him find his missing wife.”
A chill grips my spine as I peel her fingers off my mouth, keeping my voice low. “Did you report information back to this person? Details on the investigation?”
“Wasn’t like that. I was only tasked to take the job as his team leader and get into his bed.”
My mind races, connecting the dots.
The stalker. It has to be the stalker.
We haven’t told her about the threats against me. She doesn’t know.
Should I tell her? What if her life is in danger?
“I have a stalker.” I grip her tightly, whispering directly into her ear. “A dangerous one.”
“What?” Panic strangles her voice. “I have to go.”
“Frankie?” Monty pounds on the door. “Everything okay in there?”
“Yep! Just a minute.”
Turning back to Sirena, I feel a strange concern for her. “Have you been threatened?”
Her face goes white. “I was only supposed to fuck them, nothing more.”
“Leo and Kody, too?”
She nods.
“The stalker is sending me body parts. People are dying.” I grip her arm. “How is your client contacting you? Text? Phone call?”
She shakes her head, backing up, her fear palpable.
“Does Wilson know about this client?”
“No.” Her head continues to shake. “He has nothing to do with this.”
“Frankie!” The door handle rattles, followed by more pounding. “Open the door!”
She flings it open before I can stop her and bolts past Monty.
“Sirena, wait!” I crash into his chest, caught in the snare of his arms.
He’s not alone. Leo and Kody crowd into the doorway, all bearing down on me as I try to track Sirena’s escape.
“Stop her.” Pushing against them, I glimpse a blur of her dark hair.
Then she’s gone, melting into the throng of people near the front door.
“What did she do?” Leo’s eyes blaze as he shoves into the bathroom.
“Nothing. She talked to me. But she knows things about the stalker. I think she’s in danger. You need to stop her.”
Monty quickly directs some guards to follow her before turning back to me. “What happened?”
“She confessed that someone hired her to fuck you.” I take a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. “All three of you. She doesn’t know who. It was a year ago. She was supposed to help you find me, Monty. And get you into bed in the process.”
“Why would someone hire her for that?” Kody grips the doorframe. “Doesn’t make sense.”
“I think it’s the stalker,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
“We’ll figure it out.” Monty pulls me into a protective embrace.
“We need to find her.” I untangle from him and shoulder my way out of the restroom.
They stay with me, of course, forming a circle around me as we rejoin the crowd in the lounge.
Then we wait for the guards to return.
Minutes crawl by at a glacial speed. The streets around the distillery teem with so many people that she could disappear into the night, either by her own doing or the stalker.
Monty and Leo have been calling and texting her with no luck. Kody returns to the bar to entertain the crowds.
The security team discreetly sweeps the bathrooms for recording devices. Then they turn their attention to the distillery, looking for anything that might’ve been planted throughout the night.
They’ve also been instructed to watch the patrons, something they’ve been doing all night, but now on a closer, more suspicious level.
Everything is handled in the background, the guests oblivious to my confrontation with Sirena.
Finally, Carl returns, shaking his head in frustration. “There are too many people outside. She was able to slip away in the mob.”