Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Her palms settle on the sides of my jaw, and she nudges my head back so I’ll look up at her.
“Okay.”
I pull her down until she sits on my lap, and holding her as if my life depends on it, I close my eyes and focus on taking deep breaths.
Chapter 18
CASSIA
I remain seated on Knight’s lap until I see land in the distance before I move and sit down beside him. Turning my head, I look at him.
“Ready?” he asks, giving me a signal that he’s done talking about himself.
I glance at the coastline coming closer. “I don’t have a choice. I just have to be.” I tilt my head then remember something. “I forgot to organize a car.”
“My SUV is parked at the docks,” he mentions. “I always leave it there when I come to the island.”
“Oh good.”
“Give me your gun,” he orders.
Not thinking, I pull my dress up until the thigh holster is visible and remove the gun.
When I hand it to Knight, I ask, “How did you know I was carrying?”
“I felt it when I wrapped my arm around your legs.”
He takes the weapon and checks the magazine before standing up and firing a shot into the ocean.
The sound makes me jerk, and when he hands the gun back to me, I ask, “Happy?”
“No, but it will do for now. I’ll get you something more trustworthy.”
“Which gun do you have?” I ask.
He pulls the weapon from behind his back. “It’s a Beretta, but I also have a Glock, a Heckler & Koch, and a Sig Sauer.”
“Are those the best?”
He nods. “Didn’t you have weapons training?”
I shake my head. “I only learned how to shoot. Arthur is in charge of the guards and also ordering weapons.”
“Who else is of importance in your organization?”
“Michail. He was my father’s right-hand man before the attack. There’s also Savvas. He deals with the shipments and transporting the cargo to other countries.”
“Which of them do you think could be the traitor?”
“Maybe Arthur, but only because I don’t know him that well. I’ve known Michail and Savvas all my life.”
Knight’s eyes lock with mine. “Sometimes those closest to us are in the best position to hurt us.”
Before I can stop the question, I ask, “Are you talking from experience?”
He nods. “I had a drunk bastard for a father who spent more time at the local bar than home and a mother who abandoned us the night before Christmas.”
God. I might not have always gotten along with Dad, but at least he was there to take care of us.
Well, except for the past year.
Memories of my family start to flood my mind, but luckily, the yacht begins to slow down, drawing my attention to the fact that we’ll be docking soon.
I sit down and quickly tuck my gun back into the thigh holster before straightening my dress.
“If you lift your dress like that in public to get to your gun, it will be an effective weapon in disarming any warm-blooded man,” Knight mutters.
“Yeah?” I chuckle. “Should I just go around flashing my enemies?”
“At least they’ll die happy when I shoot them,” he grumbles as the yacht comes to a stop.
He glances around the area that’s pretty quiet, then orders, “You do as I say. Got it?”
“Yes.”
There’s only one man I listen to. The one who keeps me alive.
I have to make everyone else fear and respect me.
“Ready?” Knight asks as he grabs his duffle bag.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I mutter while gripping the handle of my luggage.
I pull the bag to the side of the yacht and wait for Knight to step onto the dock before I hand it to him. After I climb off the yacht, I take the handle again and drag my luggage behind me as I follow Knight to a beaten-up SUV.
“If I’m going to drive around with you, we need to get a new car,” I mention.
“What’s wrong with my SUV?” he asks as he unlocks the doors.
Taking my bag from me, he loads it onto the backseat.
I point at the rear panel above the back tire. “Besides that it’s old, it has a bullet hole.”
“All that matters is that it runs just fine,” he mutters while he opens the passenger door for me.
Climbing into the cab, I tease him, “Yeah, until it doesn’t.”
Knight slams the door shut, and my eyes follow him as he walks around the front, taking in his powerful body.
He’s held me quite a few times, and it felt intimate sitting on his lap.
That’s not brotherly behavior.
When he slides in behind the steering wheel, he opens the duffle bag and hands me a machine gun before pulling another one out, which he tucks between the door and his seat. As he leans into me to place the duffle bag on the backseat, a kaleidoscope of butterflies erupts in my stomach.