Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
She turned and followed Ian out.
“What is that supposed to mean? Also, I’m not into sex clubs,” Joseph complained. “I could find a nice hotel.”
“Let’s go, Joe. There’s a great bar there, and we can play with the lights and stuff,” Taylor promised.
MaeBe took Kyle’s hand as Drake stood and moved in front of him.
He got ready for whatever judgment was about to be passed. Drake would be pissed that he’d kept something from him, angry that he’d only given him half the story. Drake would be disappointed that he’d been so fucking dumb.
Drake put a hand on his shoulder. “Whatever it is, we’ll fix it. I promise. I’ll stand by you. We all will. Okay?”
He was not going to break down. He simply nodded.
Drake walked out, and MaeBe started to follow.
He couldn’t let that happen. Not right this second.
One of the things he’d learned that he should start doing was give in to the impulses he thought might be unmanly. Fuck that.
He dragged her back and hugged her, putting all of his soul into that embrace. She was home to him, and he wanted so badly to return home. He’d thought he didn’t belong, thought he didn’t deserve it.
But home wasn’t something one earned. It was a gift given with no thought to reciprocation.
She didn’t hesitate. She wrapped her arms around him and opened that magnificent heart of hers.
They stood there for the longest time.
Chapter Sixteen
Julia realized time had passed but she wasn’t sure how much. That fucker had hung up on her, and she’d seen red.
It was a thing that had happened a few times in her life. Someone would push her too far and when she was herself again, the world had changed. Like that time when she was twelve and that boy had made fun of her and then he’d suddenly been at the bottom of the stairs.
Her father had taken care of that. He’d cleaned everything up and sat her down and explained that there was a better way to deal with the rage that burned through her all the time. He’d taught her to focus it and refine it, and he was gone now.
The only fucking time in her life she’d felt good was when she’d been with Kyle. Kyle had made her feel normal.
She had been chasing that feeling from the moment they’d met.
She looked around the small flat she’d been hiding out in. It was owned by the group. A one bedroom in an inauspicious part of the city. Nice, but not too nice. The building was known for short-term rentals. It was exactly the kind of space The Consortium used as a safe house.
She’d pretty much destroyed it.
She’d managed to break the table and the big mirror over the couch. She thrown her phone into it, and she apparently hadn’t stopped there. In her rage, she’d trashed the kitchen, too.
When she’d calmed down enough to be back in actual reality, she’d been sitting with her back against a wall, surrounded by broken things. Rather like she was in real life.
She’d lost everything. Even fucking John, who was a somewhat competent assistant. She certainly hadn’t cared about him, but she’d needed him and now he was gone and that fucker Taggart had done it to her.
There was a knock on her door. Likely because she’d been loud in her rage.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to stand, forced herself to move to the door and explain to her neighbor that she’d accidently dropped something and it had broken. The nosy fucker shrugged and shuffled back off to bed.
Julia closed the door and realized how bad this was going to get for her.
When she filed the report of John’s death, she would have to admit what she’d been doing. She’d been warned to stay away from Kyle. She could dress it up and say she was doing something else, but one of her fellow operatives would be sent to investigate since she was still on probation.
Everyone was against her.
When one got fired from The Consortium, there was no severance pay. There was the severance of one’s head from one’s body.
Unless she could find the intel her father had left her. Her. Not Drake. She’d been his true daughter. All her father and Drake had shared was DNA. She’d been the one he’d brought into his real life.
That information belonged to her.
The problem was Drake was likely the one who could find it.
How could she force Drake to give it to her when he found it? She wasn’t sure she could look for it herself. It would be too dangerous to show her face around DC at this point. She needed someone to do the dirty work for her, and her brother was the best candidate.
She sat down in front of her computer. She needed leverage, and it obviously wouldn’t be Kyle.