Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
My heart falters when I am proven right. Not only do we arrive at the original dock I was delivered to over six months ago, but Ghost is here as well. He’s standing at the side of the gangway. A machine gun is strapped to his chest.
“Stay close to me,” Alek murmurs, his voice barely a whisper.
Nodding, I follow him halfway to Ghost before all hell breaks loose. Gunfire rings from the hills behind us, forcing the Bobrovs to respond. They scramble in all directions, panicked yet somehow familiar with being ambushed.
“Keep your head down.” Alek hides me behind a shrub before yanking a gun from the back of his jeans and returning fire on the people hiding in the dense bushland.
From my vantage point, I spot the vehicles of the people littering the docks with bullets. The front SUV’s keys are tossed onto the driver’s seat, and the door is hanging open.
With all the commotion being focused in the opposite direction I’m facing, I could make a break for it.
I won’t, though.
Hailey is free because Ghost placed my family first, so I must do the same for him despite my heartache.
My plans falter when I crank my neck in the direction Ghost is standing. He is returning enough fire to keep the focus off him, but I can’t miss the inconspicuous nudge of his head. It is the same gesture he did at the auction years ago, the head bob where he pointed me in the direction of freedom.
He wants me to run.
I shake my head.
I can’t leave.
Not now.
Not until Lera is free from danger.
I also don’t want to leave him.
“Now, маленький ягненок!” Ghost shouts, his voice loud enough to project over the booming gunfire.
When he spots my second headshake, he curses before he demands Alek to move me, which he does a nanosecond later.
He doesn’t direct me toward the cargo ship, though.
He races me to the concealed line of SUVs.
Regretfully for them, like a choreographed stunt in an action movie, Bobrov men flood the shipping yard from all angles. They’re heavily armored, geared up for a fight, and outnumber the insurgent of their enemy ten to one.
“Get her onto the boat,” Kirill orders, blocking the path Alek was just racing me down.
Before Alek can respond to his demand, the goon with a head the size of a watermelon tosses me onto his shoulder then veers me past Ghost, his steps thunderous.
I’m dumped into a locked office, my worry only intensifying when the door is flung open over forty minutes later. Ghost is standing in the doorway. His veins in his arms are bulging, his jaw tight.
He appears furious.
“Why the fuck didn’t you run?” His voice is a vicious snarl.
“Be-because…” I don’t speak another word. How can I be expected to speak when he crowds me against the only solid wall in the room before gripping my neck in a firm I’m-going-to-kill-you hold? His skin is hot, and he smells insanely mannish since gunpowder residue has been added to his already alluring palette.
“You were meant to go. It was your way out. That whole fucking fiasco was set up for you!”
I’m stunned he’d go to such lengths so soon after believing I betrayed him, but the truth can’t be hidden. “Lera—”
“Isn’t your responsibility!” He bangs his fist into the wall behind me before tightening the grip of his other hand. “But you are mine…” I take his comment as possessive until he adds, “And I said I’d get you home.” He means I am his responsibility, not that I am his. “That was our only fucking chance.” His wild eyes bounce between mine. “I have no jurisdiction where he is taking you. No say. I have no power there.” I wonder if I have his emotional prompts mixed up when he mutters, “I also promised I wouldn’t let him hurt you again. I wanted to get Sofia and Lera out, and we’ve done that.” My eyes widen when I realize Lera wasn’t lying last night. She is going on a plane. “But not like this, маленький ягненок. Not by putting your life back in his hands.”
“He hasn’t hurt me.” Gosh, the heartache in his voice cuts me raw. He believes that I didn’t lie with Kirill, but since I am pregnant, he’s reached another conclusion. “Not in the way you’re thinking. He—”
We’re interrupted by the goon who threw me into the office with no concern for my ‘status.’ “Well, well, doesn’t this look cozy?”
After flashing me the quickest apology solely using his eyes, Ghost steps back. “That was about her.” He nudges his head toward the docks we’re sailing away from. “We were fucking ambushed for a whore with an untouched cunt!” He licks his lips then snarls at me like he hates me. “Kirill might not have the balls to tell her how it is, but I fuckin’ do.” He looks me up and down before speaking words I am all too familiar with. “You have no power here. None whatsoever.”