Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 105089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“What did you do to Starla? Is she alive?” Mikey cried.
“Doesn’t matter if she is,” Alejandro said, walking forward. “If she isn’t, she’ll be dead soon enough. And this time, I’ll make sure of it.”
“Stay back! I will do this!” Mikey demanded, his voice shaky. He was outnumbered and he knew it.
“Step away from her, Mikey,” Alejandro ordered. “Now! Or instead of just killing you, I’ll make sure you suffer.”
“Fuck off, all of you!”
Cat felt the knife dig in deeper and let out a cry of pain. Then suddenly, Mikey was yanked away from her and shoved to the floor.
She took in a gasping breath as The Scot moved into her line of sight. Where had he come from? Had he been behind them that whole time?
“Always keep an eye on your back, asshole,” The Scot said. “I tried to train that into you, but you never did learn.”
Mikey stared up at him, then something came over his face. He jumped up with a yell, turning to run toward Alejandro.
The Scot slammed into her, pushing her and the chair she was still tied to onto the floor as shots rang out around them.
“Papi! Papi! Alejandro!” she cried, terrified that he’d been hurt. “Alejandro, where are you?”
And then he was beside her, his face filled with worry. With relief. “It’s all right, Preciosa. I’m here. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
“Are you hurt?” she asked, trying desperately to get herself free of the ropes.
“I’m fine.”
She started shaking as The Scot moved off her. And then she was lifted, so the chair was upright again. Alejandro and The Scot began to work on the ropes securing her to the chair.
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?” Alejandro demanded.
“N-no,” she said. “I’m o-okay.”
“Fuck, her skin has been rubbed raw from the ropes,” The Scot said grimly. “Fucking assholes.”
Cairn was standing guard while they helped her. Her gaze went from him to Mikey, who lay still on the ground.
“Is he . . . is he . . .”
“He’s dead,” Alejandro told her. “He won’t be hurting you anymore.”
Good. Good.
“S-Starla?”
“Still breathing.” Cairn glared down at her. “Fucking bitch. Can’t believe Mikey didn’t kill her.”
“He sent her away,” she explained. “She’s nuts. But he couldn’t keep her secluded away forever. He needed cash to fund her lifestyle and the guy he had watching over her. So he brought her back here. S-she wanted revenge on both me and Alejandro. She thought that I s-seduced Vince away f-from her. And she was a-angry at Alejandro for ordering her d-death.”
Finally the ropes were free and she threw herself into his arms. She was shaky and terrified. And she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel safe again.
“It’s all right, Preciosa,” he murmured. “I’m here. I have you. Let me check you over. Make sure you don’t need the hospital.”
“I don’t. I just have a few b-bruises.”
He ran his hands over her anyway. As he tucked her into his chest, a terrible screeching noise made her cry out. She turned her head in time to see Starla launching herself up, followed by a ringing shot and Starla dropping to the floor.
“Bitch,” Cairn said, putting his gun away.
Holy. Crap.
“Don’t look,” Alejandro told her, pressing her face to his chest, his hand on the back of her head. “Let’s get you out of here and home so Aaron can check you over. Cairn, you stay and keep the place secure. Call The Cleaner rather than Gavin. I don’t want him knowing that we took out one of our own guys.”
“No! Wait! Rafael!” she cried out. “We have to go to Rafael!”
“It’s all right,” Alejandro soothed. “We found him. The car had a GPS tracker on it. After your bracelet sent an alert to me and to Nighthawk, we started tracking you. But I also sent Gage with a couple of guys to check the car and they found him.”
“Is he . . . is he still alive?”
Alejandro was quiet as he carried her out of the shack she’d been held in. She looked around, noticing that it was still daylight, although it was growing darker. It felt like days should have passed with how much that had happened.
“Alejandro? Is Rafael all right?”
“It’s touch and go,” he admitted. “We got him helicoptered to the hospital. But he was heavily drugged.”
Oh God. Please let him be all right.
He climbed into the back of a car with her in his arms and settled in the backseat, holding her firmly in his lap.
Reaching over, he picked up a blanket and wrapped it around her.
“Mikey d-drugged us,” she said. “He gave Rafael a lot more than me. I didn’t have much t-time, but managed to hit the button on m-my bracelet.”
“Such a clever girl. You did everything right. You let us know you were in trouble and you stayed alive. That’s all you ever have to do, Cat. Because I will always come for you.”