Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
She didn’t say anything.
She just fell into me, giving me all her body weight as her arms went weakly around me, and her head buried in my neck as a sob escaped her.
“Baby?” Nicky repeated, glaring at me as I slowly got to my feet.
“It’s a long story,” I told him as I gathered his sister up, cradling her to my chest.
“Sharpshooting skills like that. Looking like you look. You gotta be a mob enforcer,” Nicky declared.
“Something like that.”
“And you know my sister?”
“She’s been plotting to get herself and you two free. We were almost ready to move. But then…” I said, my gaze going to Lucas’s body on the floor.
Nicky’s gaze followed.
“The motherfucker,” he said, exhaling hard.
“You had no idea?”
“If I did, I never would have let her be alone with the fuckhead ever. I just assumed he felt the same way the two of us did about Colin. Colin,” he said, his gaze whipping back to me.
“One of my brothers is looking for him. Then we need to round up the last enforcer.”
“Let me handle that,” Nicky said.
“This is—“ I started.
“That’s my sister. I had to stand by and watch her suffer for years. Let me handle it,” Nicky said, chin jerking up, and he suddenly looked a lot older than his years.
“She won’t be happy if I let you go off on your own,” I said, squeezing the crying Cammie a little tighter.
“It will be over before she realizes what is going on,” Nicky said, leaning down, grabbing his brother’s gun, then walking out of the building.
“Sure that was a smart move?” Nino asked in my ear.
“No. Follow him.”
“Already in my car,” Nino said.
“And check in on August.”
“On it. Get your girl somewhere safe. We can deal with all the other shit later.”
There wouldn’t be much to deal with. Sure, the cops were in Colin’s pockets, but they weren’t going to waste too much time looking into who attacked his organization. It wouldn’t change shit anyway. They would just tag the bodies, send them to the morgue, write up their report, and move on with their lives and careers, waiting for the next crew to rise up and fill their pockets.
I did awkwardly squat to collect the zip ties, since they were the only thing that might link back to Cammie, then after I tucked them into my pocket, I carried her down the stairs, and shuffled her into my car.
“It’s over. It’s all over,” I told her as she curled toward her window and continued to cry, but silently now, her hands pressed to her face.
There was no reason to try to tell her it was okay. It wasn’t okay. She’d been attacked by her own blood. The betrayal of that had to cut deep. And before she could even come to terms with that, she’d watched him get shot in the head.
It was a lot.
And it wasn’t okay.
So I just needed to let her process it.
On the drive, I called the hotel we’d been staying at, requesting some extra shit get sent to my room, then took a quick detour past Traveler’s place, knowing she was staying up, worrying.
“Oh, thank fuck. I mean, she looks rough, but thank fuck.”
“That about covers it,” I agreed.
“Your brothers?”
“They’re fine,” I assured her. “Go home. Get some sleep.”
“Can I deliver some coffee tomorrow?” she asked, clearly invested.
And since we couldn’t have done it without her, I was okay with that.
“Yeah. Definitely. We’re at the Ironwood.”
To that, she snorted. “Of course you are. How mafia of you. Okay. I’ll be there around… eleven. Give her a chance to sleep in.”
“Thank you, Traveler. For everything. You’ve been a lot of help.”
“Undoing some of the evil my father has done,” she said. “Go. Get her somewhere comfy. Let her have it out.”
“That’s the plan,” I agreed. “See you tomorrow.”
With that, I drove us to the hotel, and pulled Cammie out of the car and into my arms, making sure her face was nestled into my neck so no one saw the bruises that were steadily settling in.
“Two more minutes, baby,” I assured her as we got into the elevator.
“Someone had too much fun,” an older lady said with a knowing smile as she looked at us.
“Complete lightweight,” I agreed.
“I’d pretend to be wasted to if a handsome man like you would carry me around,” she said as the elevator got to her floor. “Bless you two,” she said on her way out.
“Here we are,” I told Cammie who was so eerily silent that I was starting to worry about her. “Okay. Onto the bed,” I said, lowering her down, and she all but collapsed down onto the mattress with a little whimper.
“Baby, can you at least look at me?” I asked, moving her hair out of her face.
It wasn’t too awful.
I mean, any damage was fucking unacceptable, but considering how bad it could be, it wasn’t terrible.