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)
She nodded. “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”
She would be the bad guy. It was the role she played in his life and she was done.
“I’m not joking about the investigation,” he said, his tone back to commanding. “I’m going to find out what happened then, and you are going to tell me everything you know.”
Sure she would. He thought that because for the most part she’d been indulgent with him. She’d dealt with his anger because she’d loved him, and she’d thought somewhere deep down that she could fix him. In some ways he was every bit as bad as Levi. He thought he loved her when what he mostly did was hurt her.
She’d done things she wasn’t proud of, done things she deserved his scorn for, but she’d loved him. She’d wanted the best for him even if it meant sacrificing.
“Of course.” She would agree to anything to get away from him. She needed to plan because she couldn’t stay with him. She had no one who would help her. Well, no one she could call. There was one person in all the world who couldn’t deny her aid.
“I’m going down for a run,” he said. “There’s a treadmill on the second floor. I shouldn’t talk to you when I’m this angry. I need to burn some of this off and then maybe I can look at you and be somewhat civil.”
He wouldn’t have to look at her ever again. Drake had been very correct in what he’d said. She had resources Beck didn’t know about.
She stood and watched him walk away from her and planned her escape.
In the end, it was easy. She packed a small bag, put a hoodie on, and walked out the door. The security system gave her a full minute before the alarm went off, and that was more than enough time to get lost on the streets of Paris.
She made her way to the apartment she kept and took the chance to enter. It took her exactly five minutes to get to the safe, get the cash, gun, and passport she kept there. She was hiding in the tree in the back of the building when Beck got there. She waited until he’d strode out, yelling at someone on his cell.
When she was sure he was gone, she walked to the road and hitched a ride out of town. From there she took a train to the south of France and chartered a small plane to take her into Italy. Every now and then she would feel eyes on her and change direction. She knew Beck had found her once when she recognized one of the McKay-Taggart guys at a train station in Turin, but she managed to elude him.
Two weeks after she’d left Paris she felt comfortable enough to take the ferry from Catania, Sicily, to her final destination, the tiny island nation of Malta. The ferry landed in Valletta and she took a cab to the Birgu waterfront and walked to the base of Fort Saint Angelo. It was late and she jumped the fence that barred her access to the long winding path that led to the top of the fort.
The sun was slipping into the Mediterranean as she made it to the top. A lone figure stood, blocking her path.
“Kim?” a familiar voice asked. “Is that you?”
She stood in front of the man who owed her everything. “Yes. It’s me. I need some help.”
He stepped toward her and she could see the collar around his neck that denoted he was a priest. The real Ezra Fain held his arms open. “Of course. What’s my brother done now? He’s the only one who could put that look on your face.”
She hugged the man who had been her brother-in-law and let the tears fall.
She knew in that moment that she would never love another man.
She was wrong.
Part Two
Seven Years Later
Chapter Seven
Dallas, TX
Beckett Kent sat back in the comfy chair Kai kept in his office and briefly wondered how many sad sacks like himself had sat in this very chair. How many had come through this peaceful office and found a way to move forward with their lives? “Am I your oldest patient?”
Kai frowned, looking at him over the glasses he wore when he was working. “Absolutely not. I’ve got a couple of patients in their seventies. You know the need for mental health doesn’t go away just because you age.”
He chuckled. “I meant who else has been coming here every week for seven years.”
“Ah.” Kai closed his notebook, a sure sign that their time was almost up. Kai often spent the last ten minutes of their sessions simply talking. “No. You don’t win that contest either. I’ve got a couple of guys I’ve been seeing for ten years. There’s no shame in it.”