Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“Doing okay, Theo?” Bolton asked. “You look a little sick.”
Astrid grabbed her wine and took a drink, her gaze still angled down.
I continued to lounge with my arm over the back of the chair, looking at him so Astrid would have some privacy to process the horror she was forced to suffer. “I’ll play your games, Bolton. But spare Astrid the turmoil. She doesn’t deserve the punishment.”
He stared, his eyes shifting slightly. “You think I’m punishing her?”
“She’s the only one at this table who’s suffering.”
“And you aren’t?” he asked in disbelief.
“My only suffering is seeing her with someone who doesn’t deserve her. She’s having a panic attack right in front of you, but you don’t even notice. Put your wife in a fucking cab and spare her this indecency.”
Bolton reached for his glass of wine and took a drink as he dismissed my words.
“Let’s not forget why she fucked me in the first place, Bolton.” I didn’t raise my voice, but my anger was deep in my tone. “The reason we’re all sitting at this table right now. The chain of events that you started because she wasn’t enough for you.”
Bolton took another drink like my words bounced off him.
I looked at Astrid.
Her eyes were still down on her glass.
“You don’t have to stay, Astrid.” I nodded toward the door. “Go.”
“She’s fine,” Bolton said. “You don’t need to speak for her.”
My eyes flicked back to his. “Neither do you.”
Astrid remained, caught in the crossfire between our smoking guns.
Another stretch of silence passed. A heavy one. A standoff among all three of us.
The waitress returned to take our orders. This was exactly the reason I didn’t do business at restaurants because food and work didn’t mingle. Only booze did. “I’ll take the Caesar,” I said, assuming it was on the menu.
It was the first time Astrid spoke. “I’ll have the same.”
“I’ll take the steak—medium.”
The table was silent again, the three of us locked in a wordless battle. Bolton had his eyes locked on me, as if to make sure I didn’t look at Astrid right across from me. It was a test he wanted me to fail.
Astrid wouldn’t leave, so there was nothing I could do to spare her the torture. “Are we doing this or not?”
“Are we?” he asked, cocking his head slightly. “Because it seems like you’re having second thoughts.”
“I upheld my end of the deal, Bolton.” I ended the relationship, and that was the reason we were in this shitshow. If I hadn’t broken it off with Astrid, all of our lives would be drastically different. She would have filed for divorce already.
He continued his hard and ruthless stare.
I stared back.
It was the first time Astrid looked up. “What was your end of the deal?” Her eyes went to me, looking at me head on for the first time since she’d walked into the restaurant. So curious by what I’d said, she seemed to forget the monster who held the sword to her neck.
When I looked into her green eyes, I forgot everything else for a quiet instant. I forgot about the commotion in the restaurant, the asshole who sat beside her with an invisible leash in his hands. I wanted to answer her question, but my hands were tied, and I silently pleaded for her to pull at this thread on her own, to keep pulling until the ball of yarn came unraveled.
Bolton interrupted the stare. “You want the name?”
I pulled my gaze away from Astrid and looked at him again.
“Beau,” he said. “Beau Draven.”
The sound of his name was powerful enough to make me forget about the woman across from me. Rage pounded under my skin as my heart took off at a sprint. The man who’d had my brother killed had already been on my list for years. I’d traded Astrid for it. For nothing.
“I know you’ve wanted him dead for a while—to no success.”
My eyes focused on his face.
“The only way you’re going to find him is through me.”
We barely ate our dinner.
When the bill came, I tossed a wad of cash on the table, and Bolton did the same. We probably overpaid by hundreds of euros, but we weren’t going to do the check dance. We left the table, and Astrid was the first one to the door, clearly desperate to get the fuck out of there.
She stepped out into the cold and immediately crossed her arms over herself to stay warm.
I stared at her, wanting to give her a jacket I didn’t have.
Bolton and I walked out next.
Astrid looked at the street, watching the cars go by to avoid looking at either of us.
The blacked-out SUV pulled up, and without waiting for Bolton to join her, she got into the back seat.
I stared at the window, picturing a face I couldn’t see.
“She’s the only reason you’re alive.”