Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
It was one of the things that kept her awake at night. It was one of the secrets Levi held over her head. If Beck ever found out, he might kill her himself.
“And I’ve kept it. I’ve kept it despite the fact that I hate Beck and it would be so satisfying to let him know, to send him my report on his precious brother. Do you think I don’t sit up at night and imagine the look on his face? Only the fact that the fucker died kept me from parading him in front of the press.”
“But Ezra did, and Beck’s paid enough for that.” She’d paid. God, how she’d paid.
He sat back and sipped his champagne. “If you say so.” He was quiet for a moment, that hard truth sitting between them. “I think Beck took your arrest well.”
“Did you think he would try to rescue me and then you could kill him in the chaos?” She could break the zip tie, but they were in close quarters. She needed space to have enough force to bust out.
“I knew I won either way,” he admitted with a smug smile. “Any way, really. I’m actually surprised at how it went down. He barely looked up. I rather thought he would go the defiant route and I would get to shoot him. I have to say, it was the one I hoped for. I shot the fucker in Mexico but he didn’t stay down. Damn vests. I know to go for a headshot this time.”
“You pathetic piece of trash.” How had she ever liked this man? Called him her friend? She remembered crying on his shoulder and feeling comfort from him. He’d hidden his inner sociopath well. Or she’d simply refused to see it because she’d needed one person in the world who seemed to understand her.
His eyes narrowed. “And I was hoping we could keep this civil. After all, once I get you to a secure facility, you’re all mine. I will make all the decisions concerning you. I’ll decide what you wear, what you drink, when you sleep, what you eat. I think you should be a little more willing to play ball. My patience is only going to go so far.”
The laughter that bubbled up was far from humorous. It was damn near hysterical. “You’re finally going to do it, aren’t you? You’re going to try to make me into a doll. Your fuck toy.”
“Well, I can’t have you the way I want you so I shall have to make do,” he conceded. “One does what one must.”
Frustration welled up inside her. How could this be her life? “I told you I can’t love you. I won’t ever love you. I love Beck.”
He was silent for a moment, the only sound the tires turning against the pavement. “Then we’ll start over again. Don’t you ever wonder what your life would be like—what our lives could be like—if Beck never existed? If he hadn’t shown up and wrecked everything? Look at the misery he’s caused. What would it be like if you could forget it all and start over again?”
A cold chill went across her skin at the words. “What are you talking about?”
He gave her a tight smile. “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t have the stomach for it. And honestly, if I really ask myself the question, I don’t truly want the you I see now. I don’t want Beckett Kent’s leavings. I want the woman I knew when we first started training together. I can’t have her, so I’ll settle for the next best thing. Solo two point 0.”
She was going to be sick. She knew exactly what he was talking about, had seen the damage it could do. “You have McDonald’s drug.”
“Of course I do. Or rather I have the formulary, and it’s being worked on right now.” He set his glass down. “You can’t go on like this. He’s never going to love you. He isn’t capable of loving you the way I do.”
“You are a fucking sociopath.”
“But I’m your sociopath.”
She felt a scream strangle in her throat. He was crazy enough that he would do it. There was something deeply deranged inside Levi Green, something that had responded to her all those years ago, and it had ruined her life. His obsession was a weed with roots that strangled out anything good she tried to grow there.
“You were the one working with McDonald.”
“Not at all. I really was spying on her. I started the mission with the man you know as Tucker long before she was on the Agency’s radar. I saw her for what she was early on, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the work she was doing was important.” He always managed to sound so reasonable. It was his greatest skill, to hide the psycho behind a veneer of respectability. “I knew if she managed to perfect her drug, she would likely sell it. Shouldn’t our country be the one to benefit?”