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 did not look terrified. She looked pissed and a whole lot of that was directed at him.
“Me?” It was odd how easily he slipped into the aggrieved sibling role. He and Kala had zero blood or DNA between them, but he’d been around when she was a baby. He’d gone on family vacations where he’d amused the kiddos. He felt like her sibling. “I’m not the one who snuck out of my perfectly safe house to visit my boyfriend.”
“He’s not my…” Kala sat back as the plane started to taxi toward whatever airport terminal they were heading to. “Well, not anymore because he’s an asshole like all men. But this is about you, isn’t it? At first I thought it was someone who was pissed at my dad, but then I woke up and you were here. Unless you’ve turned super villain. Have you, Kyle?”
“No.”
“Then that psycho ex of yours couldn’t get to Carys or Lucas or David, so she kidnapped me,” Kala deduced. “And you’re the dummy who fell for it.”
“Yes. I’m the dummy who decided to save your ass.”
“You can’t save my ass if you’re beside me in prison.” Kala glanced around the small jet, and her voice went low. “There are only five of them. I think we can take them.”
She was going to give him a heart attack. “No. We’re not going to take them. We’re going to sit on our asses and wait for MaeBe to come up with a brilliant plan to save us.”
“Or my parents to blow up enough shit that this person of yours shoves me back out in the world and asks them to go away.” For the first time, Kala looked like she understood this was serious. “They’re going to be so pissed at me. It might be better to die.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t joke right now.” He needed to get ready because he was about to have to deal with Julia, and that would take every bit of focus he had.
“I’m not necessarily joking. Dad I can probably handle. He’ll try to inject me with some sort of tracker, but he’ll chill after a while. My mom will never forget. Never. She’s the one who saved me from the tracker the first time around. There was a lot of talk about bodily autonomy, but she will let that go now. She’ll hold my ass down and put the collar around my neck. Or they’ll lock me in my room. Forever. I guess they know I ditched all their GPS devices. Like I couldn’t find that in my shoe. I know all their tricks. They’re going to kill me.”
They came to a stop and one of the massive, muscled mercenaries stood and walked toward the front of the plane.
“Hope your wife’s got insurance on you because my mom is going to kill you,” Kala said, raising her voice.
The man turned, his dark eyes on Kala. “Keep talking. I would love an excuse to spend some time with you.”
Kyle stood. “You’ll go through me first.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be much of a problem.” A nasty smile hit the man’s face.
“Do you know who the little bitch is?” A dark voice rumbled from the back of the plane, a deep Russian accent flowing with menace.
The obviously American asshole shrugged. “Don’t really care.”
“She’s a Denisovitch bitch. It took me a while to connect the two, but she’s the second cousin of the head of the syndicate. Whatever this woman is paying us, do you understand what the other syndicates would do to get hold of her? We could make millions selling her,” the Russian said.
The American raised his pistol, and Kyle shifted to try to get his body over Kala’s as the American shot the Russian, the sound an explosion in the small space.
Kala started to shake, but she didn’t scream. She simply went still behind Kyle.
“And now I have to share less money, so in a way he was right.” The American stared at the body for a moment before turning his gaze Kyle’s way. “Do you want to say anything? I’m going to warn you, I’m not afraid of her father or whoever the hell her cousin is. I’m auditioning for a job, and I’m going to do it right.”
“Should I call you John?” Kyle kept his cool even though he wanted to fight. He knew exactly what job the man was auditioning for, but he should be very afraid of Kala’s parents.
“There’s only four of them now,” Kala whispered.
If he kept her alive it would be a miracle.
There was loud banging as the door came open and the stairs were pulled down. A man he hadn’t seen before strode inside. So she had more mercenaries here.
“What the hell happened?” This mercenary was tall and wiry, with a thin mustache over his gaunt lips. “Why did you kill the Russian?”