Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I want my husband.
Meanwhile, my mind is working relentlessly to find any clue that could turn the tide in our favor. I'm working through every possibility in my mind.
What is Javier’s plan of attack? He’s coming here, that I know. He’ll attack the Romanovs and likely come straight for me. They’re his enemies, but I betrayed him. There is no greater crime one could commit.
I feel like the knowledge of how to stay ahead of him is right at my fingertips. Right beyond my reach. I know there’s more here than meets the eye… but what?
I can’t think beyond the strange mix of nausea and hunger that’s affecting my concentration.
Polina brings me some food but doesn’t ask questions or push. She knows what her brothers are like.
I take a nap, half expecting that I’m not going to be able to fall asleep, but I guess pregnancy takes more out of you than you’d think. It’s warm and comfortable here in the guest room. I close my eyes.
Something happens during my nap as if my brain waves fire, and disparate thoughts knit themselves together while I’m sleeping. Because I wake up with an answer to a question, I wasn’t sure I had.
It’s the map.
The map.
When we were in his office making love, the maps crinkled beneath us. There were places marked where Javier struck. Lev’s been poring over it.
That map. I need to look at that map again.
I call Aria. She answers on the first ring.
“What’s up? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I need to see into Lev’s office. Do you have cameras in there?”
“Honey, you do not put cameras in the Romanov boys’ offices. Are you kidding? They’d murder me.”
“Okay, alright, fine. Is there a way you can get in?”
She laughs. It’s a little evil, and I love it. “Of course.”
I blow out a breath. “There’s a map on the desk… I need to see it.”
“Alright. Give me ten. But this did not happen.”
A few minutes later, my phone rings. “Got it. Open your phone and tap the white triangle.”
I do what she says, and crystal-clear footage pops up on my phone. “There.” I tap the screen and stare at the map, pointing to a series of what look like random markings. Renata told me there was a map, but I didn’t know what she was talking about. It seemed random, trivial, but it isn’t.
This is a map of The Cove. When I first saw it, I thought it had something to do with Lev’s plan, but now, I know it has to do with Javier’s. “These symbols,” I tell Aria. “Do they look familiar?”
“Yeah,” she says, getting excited. “They look like coordinates. Maybe a code.”
"We need to decipher this code. It could lead us to the heart of their operation. I can’t see it very clearly here, though.”
“This is as close as I can get,” Aria says with a sigh.
“Alright. I need to get back to our home.”
I’m still calling it our home. It isn’t Lev’s place anymore. In my heart, I know… this is where I belong. With him. Together.
“Listen, Isabella. We can't afford any mistakes. This is our chance to strike back."
“I know,” I whisper. Javier is on the move; I know that now. “I need to talk to Lev.”
Where is he?
I pace the room, my stomach growling with nausea laced with anxiety. I want this over with. I know what cruelty Javier is capable of, and I won’t allow the Romanovs, any of them, to be hurt on my watch.
“I’ve got Lev on a secure network,” Aria says. “No one knows you’re talking.”
The air crackles between us. “Lev?”
“Are you okay?” he whispers.
“Yeah,” I whisper back.
“He’s coming. That’s all we know, though. We don’t know where or when.”
My heart pounds. “I think I do. There was a map in your office, and I think it’s a code. We know the shipment’s coming in. Our plan is to intercept it and make it look like an inside job, right? So Carlos and Javier will suspect each other.”
“Yes, but they changed where the shipment’s coming, and our sources have dried up. Dmitri has no idea. He says Javier’s in a rage and doesn’t trust anyone.”
I shake my head. It’s the exact type of thing my father would’ve done.
“Yeah,” I whisper. “He’s a prime candidate for thinking one of his men betrayed him. Listen, that map in your office… I need to see it again.”
“Why?”
“It’s just a hunch. Listen, you’re the one who knows how to decode information and strategize. Let’s look at this together.”
“That map was only the first one. A draft. The more detailed one is back in the warehouse.” In the warehouse. Where we first met. Where he kidnapped me and took me back to his home.
“The warehouse?”
“Yeah,” he says softly. “Should we go?”
I nod. “But tell no one. Remember, we hate each other.” I frown. “What the hell are you wearing?”