Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Are a few crumbs going to make it so you can’t sleep here, princess?”
I glared at him. “You know what kind of fucking conditions I can sleep in.”
“I rather liked the hard floor of our motel room in Colombia.”
I sighed. “That was such an amazing night.”
“I still think of it all the time.”
“Me too.”
I drained the water quickly and polished off a piece of pizza. Matteo snuggled into me, and we enjoyed the silence for a little while. He encouraged me to lie down and let him curl around me. I was drifting off to sleep when a sharp stabbing pain hit my neck.
“What the fuck?” I tried to sit up, but Matteo held me down and yanked out the syringe before I could get my hands on him.
“You need to get some sleep.”
“The fuck I do.” He let me go, but as I lunged for him, my vision doubled, and the room swam around me. “Why? Why would you?”
“I wanted to help you sleep.”
This wasn’t about sleep. “You fucking stabbed me with a tranq. Miles could call.”
“Don’t fight it, baby. Just sleep.”
He was moving toward the door. “Where are you going? Oh God, you’re not…. Did you…? Did Miles…?” I tried to make more words come out, but I couldn’t. I felt Matteo’s hands on me, but my vision had gone dark. My eyes fluttered closed as he tucked me in. The last thing I remembered was him brushing his lips across my cheek.
“I love you. I’m doing this for you.”
31
CARTER
Ifelt like I was fighting through cotton. I tried to find a way out, but there was too much fog. My eyes were so fucking heavy, but I needed to wake up. Something was wrong.
Matteo. He…drugged me? No, that had to be a dream. He cared about me. I knew he did. He wouldn’t run off. Would he?
“Matteo?” No response. “Matteo!” I knew he wasn’t there. The house felt too still, too silent.
I sat up and pushed at the air like it was cobwebs I needed to brush away. Fuck. I was groggy as hell, and it was still daylight out. I never woke up so slowly. My years as a SEAL had taught me to wake up quickly, instantly alert at the slightest sound.
This wasn’t a dream. Matteo really had drugged me, hadn’t he? I wanted to be wrong.
I tensed when I heard footsteps. “Matteo?”
A second later, Miles, Ford, and Worth appeared in my doorway.
“What are you doing here? Where’s Matteo?”
“I’m here because neither you nor Matteo were responding to my texts and calls. Matteo’s gone. Our best guess is that he’s gone after Landon, but he’s keeping his movements dark. We’ve got people watching Landon’s location, but no one has seen Matteo.”
“You know where Landon is?” When had that happened?
Miles nodded.
“How does Matteo know when I don’t?”
Worth whistled, and I looked back and forth between the two of them.
“You better fucking tell me, right now.”
Miles sighed. “I called him. He told me you were sleeping, and I said to let you sleep and check in with me in a few hours.”
“Fuck. Where is he?”
Ford frowned. “Miles was telling the truth. We really don’t know.”
“I mean Landon, not Matteo.”
“He’s in Albany.”
I was suddenly wide awake, as if the last of the drugs had been pushed out of my system by the adrenaline racing through me. “Text me the coordinates, then get out. I’m going after him.”
“There’s no way in hell you’re going after him on your own,” Miles said.
“The hell I’m not. You fucked this up, and now we’re doing it my way. What were you thinking contacting Matteo first?”
“That you trusted him. That he would make sure you were ready for this mission. That he had the best chance of taking care of you and keeping you from doing something you’d regret.”
“So this is my fault because I trusted him?”
“If he’s gone after Landon, then there’s no reason not to trust him,” Worth said. “He wants to solve your problems for you. He thinks he owes you that.”
“You don’t know that. We don’t know what the fuck he’s up to. The last time I trusted him I almost died.”
“Carter, he loves you.”
“Are you sure? Would you bet your life on it?” I shook my head. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see how easily he slid over to their side.”
I didn’t really believe he was betraying me again, did I? He was just trying to be a hero. He wanted to take out my brother so I wasn’t in danger. That had to be it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the day I’d followed him through the jungle. I had the same sick feeling as I’d had when he leveled his gun at me.
“If he was going to join back with the cartel or with your family, he would have escaped when you gave him the chance. What would he gain by staying here?”