Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“They had accents. Russian, I think. Is it your husband?”
Sonia nodded. “I think so. I think he found me. I can talk to him, try to get Bastien back.” Nikita had probably already killed him, but she wasn’t going to tell Molly that. “I’m going, but you have to tell Joshua. You have to. Give me a five-minute start. I may be able to tell you where to find Bastien if I get it out of the driver. If I do, I’ll text you the location.” She knew the first thing they’d do was take her phone.
Molly threw her arms around her and nearly crushed her. “I don’t want you to go. I thought maybe we could think of some other way,” she whispered in her ear.
“You know there isn’t, not with these men. Honey, you have to tell Joshua. He’s going to be angry, but you have to tell him no matter how scared you are. Promise me. He’s my only chance to live. If Nikita doesn’t shoot me the second I’m in the SUV, and that’s always a possibility, then Joshua will have time to rescue me.” Because if he didn’t shoot her, that meant he was going to torture her.
“You’re taller than I am, so we’ll have to do this fast. We’ll go outside on the front porch, but leave the door open, so Joshua and his guards think I’m going back inside. We’ll talk for a few minutes, which will settle the guards down, both of us sitting in the chairs. Then I’ll get up and walk to the SUV. You remain seated so it won’t call attention to the disparity in our heights. I’ll get in, we’ll drive off. You stay seated as long as possible and then go into the house and straight to Joshua. You understand?”
Molly nodded. Hiccupped. Nodded some more. “I don’t like this. Shouldn’t we tell him now? They can follow the SUV right away.”
“He’d never allow me to get into the vehicle, and then there would be no chance of getting Bastien back.” They would kill Molly, Joshua and everyone else. Sonia wanted them away from the house.
“If I wait five minutes, how will they be able to track the car?”
She knew Joshua’s men were out there, probably in leopard form. Leopards could smell the SUV and track it anywhere. That was her one chance, and she knew Joshua would come for her. She knew, no matter what, he would come for her.
She took a deep breath and put her arm around Molly. Raising her voice, she shouted to Joshua, “We’re going to sit on the front porch for a few minutes.”
He stood in the archway between the great room and the dining room. “Everything okay?”
“Just girl stuff,” she said. “You know how ridiculous men can get.”
He frowned at her, opened his mouth to say something, but she gave a quick shake of her head, as if she didn’t want him to protest what she said in front of a weeping Molly. He nodded and stepped back into the other room. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked Molly out onto the porch, making certain not to turn on lights. She pointed to a chair and then sat beside her.
“It’s going to be all right, Molly. Tell me about you and Bastien. What’s he like?”
“He’s so good to me. He spoiled me rotten and was so careful with me. No sex yet, just kissing, but I could tell he wanted sex. I wanted it too. He says he wants me very comfortable. He’s asked Jerry to get the holes in the house plugged and doesn’t want me to go home until that’s done.” She hiccupped often and twice muffled a sob by pressing her palm to her trembling mouth.
“It’s going to be all right, Molly,” she reiterated. “Just please sit here for five minutes and then go straight to Joshua and tell him what happened and to follow the SUV.”
Molly shook her head, catching her arm. “Are you certain they won’t hurt you?”
Molly wasn’t leopard. She couldn’t hear lies, and she wanted to believe whatever Sonia told her. Sonia forced a smile. “They aren’t going to hurt me.”
“You said they tried to kill you.”
She nodded. “But now I have a bargaining chip. Let me do this. Bastien is an innocent man in all this. He doesn’t deserve to die. I have a chance. He doesn’t. I need your cell and passcode.”
Molly handed the cell over and gave her the passcode. Sonia didn’t wait for a reaction. She had worked up the nerve to enter the SUV, and she had to do it before she lost it. She stood up, brushed Molly’s face with a kiss and ran down the steps to the vehicle. The door was thrust open before she got there. She dove in without even looking at the driver.