Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
A single gunshot rang out, and I reacted, charging forward.
Two of their own had started to kill their people, and I saw Ivan had also arrived. I didn’t care. I went for their leader. He’d not been taken out, but he moved too close to Charlotte. I knew what his plan was.
My wife had collapsed to the ground, her ankle unable to support her weight. Her screams rang out for all to hear.
I took out the leader’s knee, watching him fall to the floor. He went to point the gun at the floor, right where Charlotte was, and I took out his hand. He screamed in agony. The sounds were exactly what I wanted to hear.
Firing my gun a third time, I dropped it to the ground and reached behind me for my knives. I stepped forward, and drawing the blade together against the man’s neck, I looked into his eyes as I sliced downward, killing him. He slowly died at my feet.
Lifting my gaze, I watched as I caught sight of the two people who’d started to kill the cartel. Much to my surprise, I stared at The Beast and The Butcher. Man and woman. There was always rumors circulating about who exactly The Butcher was. Some believed them to be ghosts. I had met her a few times. She was deadly, scary as fuck, and seeing her in action, I knew all the rumors about her to be true.
Ivan was there as was Cassie, who’d gone to Charlotte.
Dropping my knives to the floor, I went to my wife.
“I’m fine,” Charlotte said. “I’m totally fine.”
The pain in her face was clear to see.
I forced her to look at me. Staring into her eyes, I didn’t care who were witnesses. “I love you.”
“You don’t have to say it,” she said.
“You can ask Michael. I had a meal planned. I was going to wine and dine you. Tonight I was going to tell you, Charlotte Yahontov, that I love you. I love you more than anyone else in the world.”
I saw the tears in her eyes. “I love you too.”
I leaned down and kissed her.
“Look, I know you both are having this touching moment, but we need to get her to the hospital,” Cassie said.
****
Ive
Charlotte had a broken ankle, a broken wrist, a couple of cracked ribs. A lot of bruises, but she was going to be fine.
The vet had called me. They’d been able to extract the bullet and Rose was going to be fine as well. They were going to monitor her overnight.
Staring into my wife’s room, I watched her. The doctors had given her some morphine, and she’d not been able to stay awake.
I knew Ivan had moved close to me without me having to turn and look around.
“You knew,” I said.
“Stuart planted the information.”
This made me spin around. Thinking back to two years ago when we had tortured Stuart.
“You did it on purpose.”
“Charlotte was never going to die. The Beast and The Butcher had already agreed to go in. To find out what they planned.”
“When?” I asked.
“Yesterday.”
That was when Ivan knew they were going to take her.
My hands clenched into fists and I felt so fucking angry. “You put my wife in danger. Hubert is dead. Our dog nearly died.”
“And in doing so, we just took out the problem of your cartel. The Irish have gone from here. They’re not your problem anymore, but the cartel have been pesky little bastards for as long as we could remember. Right now, they’re all retreating, which is what we needed. Charlotte was never in any real danger.”
“Look at her,” I said. “See how she looks. You’re telling me that’s no real danger?”
“The Butcher and The Beast stopped them from raping her. They made sure she was still intact. They were going to start tearing her apart. I sped things up. Made the meeting happen. Made them stop.” Ivan looked into the room. “I won’t ever let anything happen to Charlotte again, but I had to draw them out, and she was the only way to do it. When you’ve calmed down, realize what happened, you’ll see it made sense.”
I did see it made sense. The cartel had been a pain in the ass for as long as I’d been a brigadier. I’d lost good men to them.
But my wife…
“Go and be with your wife, Ive. She needs you.”
I wanted to yell at him some more, but instead, I went into the room and waited for my wife to open her eyes.
****
Charlotte
Three Days Later
Ive won’t leave my side, and I love that. He told me work can wait. He’s more focused on me getting well. My ankle is in a cast, as is my wrist. I didn’t care. Ive loved me. Just as I loved Ive.
Rose was going to make a full recovery, but Hubert didn’t make it. There was going to be a funeral for him. Ive had already told me his family would be taken care of.