Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
The tension is so thick it’s choking me. He stands over the slumped man, blood on his hands, and yet somehow I’m the one who feels like I’m drowning.
Is he dead? I can’t tell. Maybe it doesn’t even matter anymore. He was just a tool, punished by the man I married. The man I thought I could love.
He was a means to an end, and Ollie did what he had to—wrung him out until there was nothing left.
The man’s screams still echo in my head, each one like a dagger twisting in my gut. Ollie’s face is a mask of control—impassive, but there’s something in his eyes that looks like a plea. He blinks, and whatever humanity I imagined is gone. The same darkness I’ve come to expect is in its place, the inhumanity I’ve tried so hard to ignore.
The unease turns into a cold, hard knot in my belly.
He’s here. It’s too late.
A chill wraps around my spine, my worry burrowing into my mind, feeding on my deepest fears. “What does it mean?” I ask, but the words taste bitter. I don’t even know if I want the answer anymore. What’s the point of a next step if every move feels like a death sentence?
Ollie straightens, the lone wolf, the protector who would tear the world apart for me. But even as he promises safety, I wonder. What happens when the threat isn’t out there, but standing right in front of him?
I’ve only ever loved three people—Isabella, Carlos, and Ollie. The three most unhinged, ruthless people to ever walk this earth. What does that say about me? Why do I gravitate toward the ones that burn everything they touch?
What in the actual fuck is wrong with me?
“First, we assess who’s still here. You. My mother and my sister. Lev and Isabella are at the hospital, and everyone else has gone home. Next, I contact Aleks. We need to find out where he is.” He draws me closer to him with one beckoning of his finger. I step closer to him even though I don’t want to. The smell of another man’s blood still lingers on him.
At my resistance, Ollie’s expression shifts, the concern he showed for me moments ago slipping away like clouds through fingers. Maybe it was only an illusion, something I thought I could hold. His eyes are cold, merciless, his posture rigid. The man I love is gone; the cold, calculating murderer now stands before me.
“I need to keep you safe,” Ollie orders, his voice cold and devoid of any comfort. There’s no tenderness or reassurance, just command. He’s not my husband right now but a general issuing orders.
I swallow, trying to steady myself as the reality of what happened settles in. We’re not safe. The man who’s haunted us has found us, and there’s no time to waste. My only salvation is the man who stands before me now.
“You’ll do exactly what I say while we make sure everyone is secure,” he says harshly. Cold. He speaks to me like I’m one of his soldiers, but I’m not one of his men—I’m his wife, but right now, it doesn’t seem as if he cares.
I shake my head. What matters is doing what he tells me and making sure that we stay safe.
“Keep barking orders at me, Ollie,” I snap, my voice tense with anger. “Keep whispering sweet nothings in my ear and see how far that gets you.”
“Renata,” he says in a growl, his patience threadbare. “Behave yourself. Do not test me right now.”
I grit my teeth because a part of me knows he’s right. This is not time or place.
I follow him out of the room, even though I don’t really have a choice because he’s gripping my arm tightly. My legs are jelly as I will myself to keep going. My mind races, thoughts spinning out of control as I try to process everything. The house that’s supposed to feel like a fortress feels like a trap, every creak of the floorboards and whisper of the wind outside making me jump. We gather in a second room, thankfully, because the one beside the living room still holds the body of a man bleeding out… or dead.
Tension is etched on everyone’s faces as Ollie stands near the window, his hand hovering near his gun as he scans the grounds outside.
Ekaterina stands close to him, her fingers twisting nervously around the hem of her shirt. “Renata,” she says gently, “Are you all right?”
I shake my head and don’t answer.
“What’s happened?” Polina asks, her face pale.
“We’re locking everything down,” Ollie snaps, his words clipped and sharp. He’s already shifted into commander mode, the warmth he showed me earlier buried under layers of cold calculation. “No one leaves until we know the house is secure. I questioned the man who infiltrated us. He told me that Carlos is here.”