Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
I fought. I clawed at the hand on my arm, kicking out blindly and connecting with something because the man grunted close to my ear, but there were two of them, and they moved like this wasn’t the first time they’d done this. Both were calm and coordinated even with Carrie shrieking and Kass’s gun going off somewhere behind me. I know Carrie had dropped at least one more of the attackers and she was making enough noise to wake the dead.
Then something bit the side of my neck. Sharp, quick, and gone before I understood what it was.
The world went soft at the edges almost immediately. My legs stopped working the way they were supposed to. I heard Carrie’s voice, still screaming my name, and it sounded like it was coming from underwater, from very far away.
A hood came down over my head, and the world went from gray to black, and somebody’s gloved hands checked the zip ties at my wrists.
I don’t know how long the drive lasted before the drug thinned out enough to let me think again. Long enough that my wrists had gone numb against the plastic. Whatever was coming, I’d survive it. I’d survived worse with less reason to.
And whoever had sent these men had no idea the magnitude of shit storm about to rain down on them. As I covered my middle with my bound hands, I understood my assignment. Keep us both safe until Tonio came for me. Then God have mercy on anyone involved in this, because I knew Antonio Miles would not.
Chapter Fourteen
Antonio
The rotor wash battered me where I stood a distance from the waiting aircraft. Kerosene fumes mixed with wet tarmac smell created the backdrop. My heart pounded with equal parts fear and… elation. Tessa was pregnant with my child. As badly as I failed Darby, I didn’t think I deserved a second chance so while I was happy, that happiness wasn’t for me. Tessa was happy. I was happy she was happy. If the end result was I got a chance to be an actual father, I’d grab it with both hands and hang on as long as Tessa let me.
OK, that wasn’t true. I wanted this child. I wanted to love this child. Most of all, I wanted to protect the child and her mother like I hadn’t been able to with Darby and Jen.
And… I hated fucking waiting. They should be here any minute, but I had a bad feeling.
I climbed inside the waiting helicopter and one of the hanger crewmen shut the door after me. My phone vibrated with an incoming call. When I answered it, my world stopped.
“They hit us, boss.” Finch panted, his breaths coming in heavy even as I heard continued gun fire in the background.
“How bad?” I barked.
“Everyone is alive, but they took Tessa.”
I didn’t even hear what Finch said next. White static filled my head, drowning out everything. My knees buckled, and I punched the inside panel where I sat so hard my fist went numb and a line of blood welled up between my knuckles. Didn’t feel it. Didn’t care. All I could see was Tessa’s face, eyes shining, hand on her belly. My baby. My woman.
And someone had fucking taken her!
The pain hit so hard I almost puked. Instead, I dragged the agony inside and let it burn. Rage, ugly and bright, lit up my veins. Every failure I’d ever made blared in my ears. Jen’s eyes, Darby’s silent judgment, all the girls I couldn’t save. Every Goddamn one of them.
I would rip this mountain apart stone by stone. I’d stalk the bastards who took her to the ends of the earth and carve the Goddamn directions in their skin. I would not stop. Not this time. I’d kill every motherfucker who touched her.
“Location?”
He gave it. I left the chopper idling and hopped back in my car. My driver, Kellen, must have seen or heard unusual commotion because he slammed the gas down and skidded to a halt next to the aircraft before I’d climbed down to the tarmac. I gave him directions and he nailed the accelerator.
The world outside blurred past. I let Knuckles and my own men talk me into this, had understood their reasoning even, and now Denton had Tessa. I was supposed to be her protector. Instead, I was at a fucking air strip, twenty minutes up the road.
The wreck came into view. Kellen rolled over the glass at fifty and jammed the brakes, sliding sideways into the shoulder. I was out before the vehicle came to a stop.
The lead vehicle’s nose was caved in, front end scored deep and bleeding fluid all over the asphalt. The wrecked van had no markings or tags of any kind. My crew was still on their feet, though, given how violent the crash looked, their survival was no small miracle. That no one had been seriously hurt seemed impossible.