Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
The phone is on speaker when he answers.
“Give me back my daughter.” His anger echoes through the air, and I laugh.
“Work on your manners. That is no way to say hello.”
“Cut the shit and tell me what you want. I’ll give you anything.”
I lean forward in my chair. “Here is the thing, Michael, you don’t get to make suggestions on how we handle things. Phoenix is in no danger.” He scoffs on the phone, obviously not believing me.
“She got on my boat,” I remind him.
“What do you want?”
“Here’s what you don’t understand. I have everything I want already. I have your guns. Both shipments. I have your money. And best of all … your daughter. The most important person in your life is on my boat as my guest, so there is nothing you can give me other than yourself.”
I’m dangling the hook. Let’s see if he bites.
“Fine.”
Hook. Line. Sinker.
“No.” Phoenix stands, rushing over to where I am and grabbing the phone from my hand. I let her have it, loving the fire that plays in her eyes as she thinks she can pull one over on me yet again. “Don’t do it. I’m not worth it,” she pleads.
“You are.” His voice is soft, pleading with her to let him do what he needs to do. “Take me off speaker, Alaric.”
Standing from where I’m sitting, I make my way over to her. She’s nibbling her bottom lip. The movement calls attention to how her mouth trembles. “Phone.” My hand reaches out, and she looks into my eyes. Her big blue eyes beg and plead for me to reconsider. That ship has sailed already. There is no going back. Unless I give him back his money or his guns, he’s dead. Truth. He’s dead regardless, and he knows it. This is his best option.
“Please,” she mutters as I take the phone. “Please don’t do this.” She’s speaking to both of us.
To her father for offering himself on a platter and to me for doing this in the first place.
I grab the phone from her hand and place it on my ear.
“We’ll meet at The Port of La Guaira. You will come alone.”
“You won’t harm her?” His voice is broken. He loves her. I should care, but I don’t. He deserves what’s coming to him.
“You have my word.”
“And you’ll make sure they don’t.”
“As soon as you are with me, I will have the guns dropped off for the Camerinos.”
He’s silent as he considers this. He is probably trying to find a way around this, which would require him to find the guns first.
Would he risk his daughter for one last Hail Mary?
“You have a deal. How long until you’re there?”
“One day. You have one day to get your life in order.” He understands my meaning. He has one day to make sure his affairs are in order to make sure Phoenix is forever taken care of. With the guns and money returned to him after the exchange, he will have to transfer everything into her name. A lot of work to do in one day, but that’s his problem, not mine.
“Very well.” He pauses, and for a moment, I wonder if he hung up. “Will I see her?”
“Yes.”
It’s the least I can do. I can grant him that little mercy, although he never granted me the same. Had I known that day four years ago would be the last time I spoke to my brother, I might have said something different or done something different.
But unlike this man, I won’t do the same.
With nothing more to say, I hang up the phone. My gaze slides toward Phoenix, who is now sitting in the chair across the table from where I was sitting.
Tears stream down her face.
I take the seat across from her, staring at her as she cries. She’s mesmerizing as she lets her walls crumble.
I shouldn’t enjoy her crying.
Normally, watching a woman cry would put me on edge, annoy me.
But the love she feels for him, it’s real. Genuine. He is her world.
The two sides of this man don’t reconcile with me.
He killed my brother. No remorse. He killed him because he thought he was me. Unforgivable.
“Don’t do this.” She hiccups as she sobs.
“I am offering him an option the Camerino won’t. I will give him a swift death and make sure you are safe.”
“You did this to him. He’s only in this position because of you.”
“Your father started this war, dove. I’m only finishing it.”
I stand and grab a box of tissues, placing them in front of her.
“Clean yourself off and pack.”
“There is nothing here I want,” she fires back, tears now dry from her rage. It simmers beneath the surface, the red flames peeking out from behind her eyes. They remind me of burning coals full of fire and heat.