Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Elder turned a furious red. “For fucking Christ.”
I didn’t want to be untrusting but just because Q had a photo showing the Chinmoku on board the Phantom didn’t mean they were still there. They could’ve investigated, found no one, and left. We could still be free to return and set sail immediately—disappear into open waters where none of these weekend boat watchers could track us.
Nudging Elder with my shoulder, I whispered, “We’ve been here for days. They might have left. We could still go—”
Q shook his head, tapping the corner of the page Elder still held. The one with Chinmoku infesting his pride and joy. “This was sent to me twenty minutes ago.”
“Twenty minutes? Fuck, my crew.” Elder spun to face Selix, uncaring of injuries. “No one has called. Do you think—”
As if Jolfer himself had been waiting for this exact time to ring—determined to cause the most dramatic entry as possible—Selix’s cell phone jumped into a jingle, demanding to be answered.
Chapter Seventeen
______________________________
Elder
I SHARED A look with Selix as his phone vibrated with urgency.
Two options.
Either the Chinmoku had slaughtered my crew and were calling to brag or Jolfer had somehow managed to get everyone to safety and was calling with a status update.
Either way, I had to answer.
Selix passed me the phone while I shoved Pim’s dress at him. He tossed it onto the side table, completely forgotten.
My stomach knotted as I barked, “Yes?”
An eon of silence where my ears throbbed for good news but convinced they’d only receive bad.
“Prest, it’s Jolfer.”
Thank Christ.
Anxiety washed over me as my shoulders slouched and tensed at the same time. “Are you safe? What’s going on?”
“Yes. We were hostilely boarded about thirty minutes ago. Luckily, the motion sensors picked up their arrival, giving everyone plenty of time to get to the safe room.”
“That’s good news.” I paced away from Q’s watchful eye, heading toward the library. “Where are you calling from? There’s no reception in that bunker.”
“I—eh, I got stuck. I tried to bypass your office. You left your laptop out. I didn’t want them having access to whatever important documents you might have on there. But I was cut off.”
“Fuck, man. Who cares about the laptop? Every business account is encrypted. They can’t steal shit.” I didn’t tell him they weren’t there to rob the place but to kill anyone they could to teach me a lesson. “Get to the safe room. Now.”
“No can do.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “They’re searching each level. I can’t understand them as they’re speaking Japanese, but I did overhear the word Mercer and Blois. That’s why I had to call you. Isn’t that where you are?”
I wanted to hurl the phone across the room and punch every book in this godforsaken library. “For fuck’s sake, they hacked my browser history.”
I groaned at the ceiling. Christ, I’d been so careless.
When Jolfer passed on the radio call after we’d searched tirelessly for where Pim might’ve been taken, I’d looked up Mercer, learned enough to know I hated him, then rushed out of there too fast to shut down the web history.
I hadn’t erased the search.
I hadn’t used a ghost mode to hide my online movements.
They had Mercer’s name.
They had his location.
Motherfucking hell.
Rushing from the library, I hobbled on my sprained ankle, breathing far too heavy for my broken ribs enjoyment.
My shoulder had a hole in it; my elbow didn’t work probably. I still had bumps and bruises and stitches. But none of that mattered now. Q didn’t matter. What he’d done didn’t matter.
The only thing that did was Pim was once again in danger.
Because of me.
And not only had I put her life at risk but I’d also put the entire Mercer household in the Chinmoku’s crosshairs. Once again, I’d put a family in the path of death.
I’d been selfish and idiotic and sloppy.
My body had better heal itself in the next ten minutes because if I couldn’t fight—if I fought as bad as I had when I’d tried to murder Mercer—then we were in huge fucking trouble.
If the Chinmoku came here, then only one outcome was possible. No opportunity of losing. No attempt at a truce. I’d have to win. I’d have to kill all of them.
And I’ll fail.
My heart filled with sharp rocks as I glanced at Pim. Her face tight, her fingers looped together as if granting false comfort that everything would be all right.
Goddammit, I can’t fail.
I couldn’t because if I did…she’d die.
They’ll all die.
And it would be my fucking fault just like my brother and father.
I can’t…I can’t go through that again.
A plan unfurled in my head, bright as lightning and deafening as thunder. All this time, I thought I had a choice on how this fight would end. I thought I would be the victor, when really, I’d condemned myself the moment I fell in love.