Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Here we go. Uncontrollable rage.
“And King murdered your men.” I go on, relishing Sandy’s frown. “Because he needed help getting his precious niece back from us. Needed you to have a reason to want to back him.” I raise my brows. “So he offered you the guns.”
“God,” Danny exhales dramatically. “I’m so tired of being the scapegoat around here.”
Luis looks across to King, scowling. “You killed my men? My brother?”
King brushes it off casually. “It was for the greater cause.” He looks at Sandy. “You tried to abduct my niece! Look at her! Broken! How the fuck do you think I will sell her now?”
Fuck. Me.
Danny laughs wickedly. “Christ, who needs enemies with friends like you three, eh?”
“And one last thing,” I say, feeling James and Danny glance at me. “The guns King promised you.”
“What about them?” Sandy asks, unable to conceal his unease.
“There aren’t any.”
“What?” Sandy barks.
“What?” Danny whispers.
“He. Has. No. Guns.” I spell it out. “Because he sold them all to the Irish six months ago.”
And suddenly the three of them are in a triangle, guns swinging between each other, and their men surrounding us are thrown into a muddle. Who to kill. Who to aim their guns at. Who to trust. I release a slow burst of amused breath. “What a fucking circus.”
“Makes a change from a zoo,” James says, all of us unmoving, and still fucking unarmed. I look back at the others. Their faces are a picture. I shake my head, telling them to remain where they are until I get Pearl back. But King has hold of her wrist.
“Anyone got any popcorn?” Danny asks.
“A hotdog?” I add.
“I prefer Haribos,” James muses lightly, but I detect his unease, and Danny’s, and every one of our men behind us. I have not one fucking clue how this is going to play out, and Pearl’s removed herself from my reach, God damn her.
But then . . .
I quickly check Nolan again. He’s with me. Sees the opportunity. His father’s son. I flick my eyes to the nearby container. He nods.
“Well, none of us anticipated this,” King says over a laugh. “I thought we were friends, Sandy.”
“Your niece has been fucked,” Sandy hisses, waving his gun at Pearl.
Oh fuck.
I feel James and Danny tense with me.
“Your virgin isn’t worth shit.” He laughs.
I see it. The complete, catastrophic rage that bangs into King, his body jolting.
“Let’s get ready to rumble,” James murmurs.
“This true?” King’s gun is suddenly pointed at us. “She’s been fucked?”
Fucked. I’ve never fucked Pearl.
“Over to you.” Danny’s physically shaking with the effort to remain where he is.
“Yeah, about that.”
I clear my throat, all attention on me.
Fuck.
66
PEARL
* * *
I can smell him. The stench of cheap, heavy cologne that used to waft through the manor. That smell would tell me if he was near. If he’d been somewhere close by.
I peek up from under the baseball cap. Brad, Danny, and James look so fucking calm, but I can feel their fury. I don’t know what Brad saw on the envelope he threw to the ground. Knowing my uncle, it was heinous. Vulgar, like he is.
“Your virgin isn’t worth shit,” the tall, foreign man hisses, and I flinch when he points his gun at me.
My uncle swings his gun toward Brad. “This true? She’s been fucked?”
I inhale sharply, consumed by dread, my mind chasing in circles.
“Yeah, about that,” Brad says. “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
My uncle’s chin lifts.
“The bad news is, she’s no longer a virgin.” Brad flicks his eyes to me, and I will him not to goad my uncle. “The good news is, it was a nice experience for her.” He smiles. I know Brad’s smiles. They’re light, his lazy gaze twinkly. There’s none of that. “Or is that bad news for you? And good news for . . . me?”
I can’t see my uncle, won’t look. I keep my eyes on Brad.
“You?” he barks.
“Me,” Brad confirms.
“Well, that explains everything.” My uncle laughs, the manic, uncontrollable laughter turning my blood to ice. “Why else would you pay two hundred million for her? What do you think this is? Try before you buy?”
“What does it matter? You’re getting your money.”
“What does it matter?” he asks. I hear it. The frenzy rising. “You made a fucking fool of me, that’s what matters!” I watch Brad, feeling the gun that he tucked into my leggings as I climbed out of the car pressing into my back. I wasn’t supposed to move away from him. I wasn’t supposed to move out of his reach. Nolan or me. Brad would never have chosen. So I had to. Because my uncle’s here for me. Virgin or not.
And now it’s over.
67
DANNY
* * *
I don’t like the look on Pearl’s face. I don’t like the defeat. I don’t like the darting of her eyes as she thinks. Don’t do it, Pearl. Leave the gun exactly where it is. “Look at me,” Brad whispers under his breath, desperate for her to see him. She doesn’t look up. Her hands twitch. King is making sure he’s keeping her close even when his attention is pointed elsewhere.