Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
I shrugged.
I might or might not have felt that way.
But I tried to force myself not to eat them.
The only reason they were there was because the boss liked to carry our favorite snacks, even if he refused to just give them to us. There was only so far his niceness would extend.
“They’re my favorite, too,” Nastya said. “I’m surprised to see these in a vending machine.”
“They’re there because the big boss wants to keep his detectives happy. He does make us pay for them, though,” John admitted.
Only after she’d finished half of the juice and half of the powdered sugary peanut butter Chex Mix-covered goodness did she gesture for me to keep going.
“What now?” she asked.
“Now, we ask you not to leave town, and let us do a little more investigating,” John answered for the both of us.
“If you have need of her answering any more questions, please call me first,” Elianora ordered.
Doubtful.
But we’d see.
“Yes, ma’am,” I lied.
The three of them left without another word, and I was left standing there, looking at the half-eaten bag of Muddie Buddies she’d left at the table where I’d just been sitting. She did grab the Snickers bar, though.
“What do you think?” John asked.
“I think she didn’t do it,” I said.
“Same.”
“Gentlemen.”
We both looked up to find the big boss, also known as Sergeant Daniels, in the doorway.
“Yes?”
“My office,” he ordered.
Didn’t mean to be rude, but it’s just the cold and my personality.
—Nastya to Haze
NASTYA
The lawyer had already figured out what it was Shasha did.
“After the Viveka and Gabriel situation, they’ve decided that we’re going to be their primary focus. They put Detective Haze on the project because they think he’s about to quit, and they need him,” my brother replied.
The Gabriel and Viveka situation was something that’d happened a couple of months before Shasha met his now-wife, Brecken.
See, a woman had dropped off a baby at Shasha’s gate, and had been run over in a hit-and-run as she tried to get away.
My brother had saved the baby and had her adopted into his housekeeper’s family.
Faina and Cassius were great caretakers to their adoptive daughter, Catya. But, as far as the world knew, Faina had given birth to Catya herself and that would stay that way forever.
The woman that’d been run over, Viveka, had died at the scene, and later it’d been confirmed that her husband, a hot-shit criminal defense lawyer, had done it.
Though I hadn’t confirmed it fully, I knew my brother had some part in his disappearance.
We’d all been questioned—even me—as to his whereabouts.
And since my brother tried to keep the full details from us for deniability purposes, I could accurately say that I had no idea.
I didn’t get that feeling, though.
“No,” I said. “I think this was just a routine questioning. And it should be. I mean, there was a dead body hacked up to pieces in my car.”
“This won’t be the end of it,” Shasha grumbled.
“What won’t?” Shasha’s wife, Brecken, came into the room.
Their daughter, Vivi, was hot on her heels.
She came running into the room, a powerhouse of a three-year-old, and went straight to her father.
Only, last second, she diverted her path and came right at me.
Unprepared for her assault, I fell back onto my ass onto the floor, laughing as I did.
“Aunt Nasty!”
I sighed.
I’d long since decided that I would never get to be called anything else.
My brothers called me that no matter how many times I threatened their lives, neither one of them cared because they knew I wouldn’t do a damn thing.
Now, even my niece had started calling me that.
“Hey, Vivi.” I pried some of her crazy hair off of her face. “Why are you covered in chocolate?”
“Because Mommy and I decided to make chocolate frosted brownies.” She paused. “And Mommy said that I could lick the beaters, but she told me not to tell Aunt Milena.”
I laughed.
Milena was a baker.
She loved baking and always had.
But she never cheated and ate any of her creations before they’d been cooked because she said it was “dangerous.”
Personally, I couldn’t care less. I ate raw cookie dough and brownie batter, despite knowing that there was a possibility that I’d catch some disease from it.
Nothing should taste that good if it was bad for you…
“Good idea,” I said. “Aunt Milena doesn’t like it when we eat raw stuff.”
“That’s because she’s a party pooper.” Shasha came over and plucked his daughter off of me, giving her a ton of kisses as she squealed in delight. “Why didn’t I get a hug first, you monster?”
While Shasha was busy giving his attention to his child, I explained to Brecken what was going on.
“Do they think you did it?” she asked.
“God, I hope not,” I grumbled. “Because that would fucking suck.”
“It would,” she agreed, her eyes narrowing. “What’s that?”
She pointed at my neck, and my cheeks immediately flamed. “Oh, nothing.”