Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
I only get a few steps away when I am suddenly stopped. The person grabbing my elbow instantly regrets their manhandling when I respond with violence.
It was my go-to on the streets when I had to fight for everything I had.
The palm I ram into the dark-haired man’s nose adds to the bruises mottling the skin under and above his eye. He retaliates, as expected, but his backhanded slap has nothing on the pain that’s been splintering through my veins for the past eighteen-plus hours.
When the man with icy blue eyes rears his hand back for another slap, I’m saved by the last person I expected. “Don’t ruin the merchandise before I’ve had the chance to sample it.”
Ghost moseys down the hall with his hands in his pockets and not the slightest bit of agitation on his face. Only the flicker of danger in his eyes exposes he’s pissed as fuck.
“She would have thought you were me.” I knew Alek and Ghost were close, but I had no idea just how close until he pushes my head to the wall while growling, “She likes to be hunted.” He kicks apart my feet with his boot before squashing his thigh between them. His ploy to make the man believe he was chasing me is so realistic, I’m praying like hell the hallway doesn’t have cameras. If Alek was to see this, Ghost will be dead. “And our game is only just beginning, isn’t it, Little Lamb?”
I would nod if his hold on my head allowed it. Since I can’t, I stammer out, “Y-yes.”
“Good girl.” He pulls me back until I can see the bewilderment slashed across the stranger’s face before Ghost shoves me toward his office. “I’m over playing. Get in my office and strip.”
“B—”
“Did I sound like I was asking a fucking question?”
When Ghost’s expression exposes his punishment will be far worse than the man watching our charade with joined brows, I shake my head before scampering back to his office.
I can’t hear a word he exchanges with the man in the hall when I leave, but their discussion appears heated. Ghost’s grin is mocking, and the longer it remains on his face, the angrier the dark-haired man becomes.
They almost come to blows until a small child exits a bedroom one spot down from Ghost’s office. She rubs at her eyes, reddening the angry scar that travels from her hairline to her chin before she wraps her tiny arms around Ghost’s leg.
The man accosting Ghost seems to get pleasure knowing the child is ruining Ghost’s plans, but he does nothing to alleviate it. He simply bids them goodnight before leaving with an extra spring in his step.
When Ghost returns to his office with the small child in his arms, he nudges his head to the sofa. “You will need to stay here for a couple of hours. He will be watching.”
“He?”
I follow Ghost to a secret door at the side of his office. When it pops open to display a child’s bedroom on the other side, my mouth gapes. Ghost doesn’t seem the maternal type, but why else would he have a child’s room next to his unless he is her guardian?
The truth smacks into me hard and fast when I recall Alek’s shouted words before he stormed out hours ago. “She is Lera, your niece?”
Nodding, he tucks her in before he hands her a stuffed rabbit. “Sleep. There are still hours until the sun rises.”
“Then?” she asks, making me melt with her adorable voice.
“Then you can raid my pockets.” When her face lights up, Ghost murmurs, “But only if you sleep.”
“Okay, uncle,” she replies, her English worse than mine. “Goodnight.”
She must really want whatever is in Ghost’s pocket because she clamps her eyes shut and snuggles into her bunny.
Ghost waits for her breathing to level out before he exits her room, switching off the light on his way but leaving the door partially cracked open. I already feel like absolute shit, but he digs the stakes in deeper when he murmurs, “If you want to be angry at anyone for Alek not being there that day…” He nudges his head to Lera’s room. “She seems the logical choice. If he hadn’t hidden her, he would have killed her.”
“He?” I ask again, my voice low with empathy.
“Her father.” He walks around his desk and takes a seat on his chair. “The very man who would give anything to hurt Alek.” He drags his tired eyes down my body. “Hurting you would hurt him.”
“That’s why you pretended I was yours.”
I wasn’t asking a question, but he answers it as if I was. “Yes.” He works his jaw side to side before confessing, “I also wanted to test a theory Alek has been suggesting the past couple of months.” I can’t tell if he is relieved or pissed when he mutters, “He could be onto something.” He returns his eyes to my face. “For the first time in months, he seemed more interested in learning all about you than riling me about Katie.”