Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Miles exited the building and headed to our vehicle. He slipped into the middle seat with me and Beck.
Matteo waited by the exit. “Carter is taking care of the last few people in there. He’ll be out in a second.”
Carter wasn’t alone when he exited the building. The man following him had a gun to Carter’s head and an arm around his neck. The fucker grinned maniacally at Matteo.
“I see you’re still alive. I’ve got your man. Want to trade?”
“Let him go you son of a bitch. If you want to fight, then fight me man-to-man.”
“I don’t want to fight. I want to kill you slowly, painfully, and then I want to make sure everyone believes you’re a traitor, that you were with us all along.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Carter snarled.
I couldn’t believe how calm he looked. Beck was shaking in my arms.
I wanted to believe everything would be all right. I had no doubt Matteo could put a bullet between the man’s eyes. But he could he do it before the man shot Carter?
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Matteo will handle it,” Miles said. “Keep your heads down.”
I pulled Beck to me and told him not to watch. I turned away myself, terrified I was about to see one of my friends die.
Somehow though, I couldn’t keep myself from watching. When I looked again, I saw Carter make a hand signal and Matteo return it. They were subtle, but I knew them well enough to know how easily they communicated without saying a word.
A few seconds later, Carter slammed back into his captor, throwing his arms out to knock the man’s gun arm to the side. Carter stepped sideways, and Matteo fired.
Carter’s captor collapsed with a hole his forehead.
Bile rose in my throat at the sight, but I pushed it back down. My friends were safe. Carter ran to Matteo who picked him up. He wrapped his legs around him, and they kissed long and hard before running to the car and jumping in. Matteo started the engine and yanked it into gear.
“We’re just driving away?” Beck asked. “What about the police?”
Carter nodded. “Our men will take care of it.”
Miles agreed. “The cleanup crew is already on the way.”
“But those men kidnapped me, and now you’ve killed them. What’s going to happen?”
“To us? Absolutely nothing,” Miles said. “We’re taking you back to Worth’s house, and you’ll get checked out by my doctor. Then we’ll go home and pretend nothing happened.”
Beck stared at him. “How can you get away with that?”
I hugged my brother tighter. “It’s best not to ask him more questions. Miles has endless resources, just like we do.”
“So you’re saying I could just kill anybody, and you could cover it up?”
“It would be harder with some people than others, but it so happens our connections make this one particularly easy to cover up since people at many levels of military and law enforcement want this cartel gone.”
“How did you get mixed up in this?” Beck asked, looking at me.
Miles sighed. “It’s my fault.”
Carter huffed. “I’m equally to blame.”
“I’m the fucker who was undercover with them,” Matteo protested.
Beck shook his head. “This is crazy. You know that, right? Fucking crazy.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, taking the opportunity to finally look him over fully.
“My wrists hurt from the way I was tied up, and I may have a sprained ankle, but I’m okay. They didn’t really hurt me.”
I lifted his hand and turned it over. The marks on his wrist made anger boil inside me. “How dare they leave marks on you!”
“I made sure they paid for it,” Carter said.
“I wish I could make them pay again.”
Ford smiled. “I love when your vicious side comes out.”
I rolled my eyes. “They hurt my baby brother.”
“I bet you’d be the same way if—” A sharp look from Ford cut off Matteo’s words.
“If what?” Beck asked.
I sighed. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, I just want to make sure you’re really okay. We’ll have Miles’s doctor look at your ankle and put something on your wrists so they’ll heal up quickly and not scar.”
Beck frowned. “You’re keeping something from me.”
“I wanted to be there for you. I’m so sorry that things I got involved in hurt you. Let’s just get you taken care of before we talk about anything else.”
He leaned over, letting his head rest on my shoulder. “I was so scared, but now you’re here and I’m safe. I don’t want to think about it or talk about it anymore.”
I wrapped him in my arms again and held him tight. I knew I had to tell him about Laurie eventually, but it could wait.
“Where is Laurence?” Beck asked a few moments later. “You didn’t leave him alone in Aruba, did you?”
“No, he’s at my apartment with Ben, and there are guards there.”