Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
My phone pings with a message. I pick it up off the nightstand.
Chloe: Time to put your party pants on. It’s Samantha’s thirtieth birthday this weekend, and either you come here, or we’re coming to you to celebrate.
I sit up with a rush.
They can’t come here. It would be disastrous.
But I can’t keep putting them off. It’s only a matter of time before they start getting suspicious. They need more than the random proof-of-life photos that I send them of the fake life that I am not living. They still think I am working for a tyrant CEO and building a new life in the city with an apartment and all the normal things someone who hasn’t been abducted by the bratva would be doing. But my friends aren’t fools. If they don’t have some in-person time with me, then they are going to do something drastic like turn up on my doorstep.
Which would be impossible because the address for that doorstep doesn’t actually exist.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and quickly flick Chloe a message back.
ME: Oh, no! I was going to surprise Samantha. I am coming back to Chicago.
It’s a lie, and I have no idea how I’m going to convince Lev to let me go. But I have to make this happen for everyone’s sake.
Immediately, my phone begins to ring.
It’s Chloe, and she’s squealing down the line when I answer. “I can’t believe it! Finally, we’re gonna be in the same room as each other. This is going to be so much fun. It’s been way too long.”
Guilt washes over me because she’s excited for something I’m not sure I can make happen.
“I know, I’m sorry, it’s been so crazy here. But I should’ve made the trip back earlier.”
“We understand. But we miss you. How is the evil CEO? I haven’t received any requests to help you bury a body, so I’m assuming you haven’t murdered him yet.”
I hesitate. “Things are complicated in that department.”
“Complicated? What do you mean—oh my Lord, you’re boning your boss.”
That’s typical Chloe. Zero to a hundred in under two seconds.
“How did you come up with that idea?”
“Am I wrong?”
Again, I hesitate. “Well—”
“I knew it. You’re shaking the sheets with the pharmaceutical overlord.” Chloe’s excitement bubbles through the phone. “Ooh, are you going to bring him with you to Chicago?”
“Maybe? It’s all so new.”
“Oh my God, we’re going to have so much fun. I can’t wait to meet him.”
I smile at the thought of Lev coming to Chicago with me and hanging out with my friends. Samantha and Chloe would go bonkers over him. But Elsa would hang back and reserve her judgment until she gets to know him better. She’s not easily impressed by good looks and money, and Lev will have his work cut out for him when he meets her.
And Henry, well, I think it will be love at first sight for him.
I grin, my body warm and happy when I think about my friends and seeing them again. But my smile fades because I have a huge challenge ahead, convincing Lev to let me go when his enemies have already gotten their hands on me once before. It’s going to be impossible.
“Absolutely one hundred percent, no fucking way!”
Lev looks at me like I’ve just asked the impossible of him. Which I probably have.
After hanging up with Chloe, I came looking for him and found him in his office talking with Feliks.
“I need to see my friends,” I say. “They are getting antsy, Lev.”
“You’re not going,” he replies.
I look to Feliks for help, and he gives me a look that says good luck with that insane request.
“I’ll take bodyguards with me,” I add.
Lev lifts an eyebrow. “You don’t step out of this house without a bodyguard, let alone go out of state to Chicago.”
“Fine, sneak me out of the city and surround me with a thousand men. But please, I need to see my friends.”
I have no idea how I’m going to explain the bodyguards to my friends, but I’ll figure it out later. First, I need to conquer this mountain.
Again, I look to Feliks for help, but he shrugs and holds up his hands.
I mouth, “Please help me.”
He rolls his eyes and sighs, reluctantly agreeing to help.
He clears his throat and stands and approaches Lev’s desk cautiously. “You know, getting Brooke out of town for a few days isn’t such a crazy idea.”
Lev looks at him like he’s spoken to him in some ancient alien language, then leans back in his chair. “Oh, this should be good. Pray tell, why is this a good idea that she leaves?”
“There’s a lot going on here, Pakhan. It might do Brooke some good to be away from the city for a while. Have some time with her friends.”
I give Lev pleading eyes. “Please, I’m going crazy stuck in this house.”