Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I can’t resist dipping my head to taste him, my tongue flicking out to swirl around the head while my hand keeps pumping. Liam curses under his breath, his fingers tangling in my hair, holding me there as Knox groans above us.
Knox reaches down, his hand covering mine on Liam’s cock, guiding my strokes with his own, our fingers interlocking in a messy, shared grip that amps everything up. “Come for us,” Knox growls, and Liam does, breaking apart with a cry that echoes through the room. His release spills hot over our joined hands, his body convulsing as Knox follows him seconds later, thrusting deep one last time with a groan that shudders through all of us.
We collapse in a heap, limbs entangled, breaths ragged and syncing as the haze settles. I press lazy kisses to Liam’s shoulder, then Knox’s arm, savoring the aftertaste of our last night of peace.
Chapter Thirty
Hailey
The morning of December twenty-third arrives with weak winter light and a silence that presses against my eardrums.
We’re sitting around the small table—Knox on my left, Liam on my right, our knees not quite making contact underneath. The food is untouched. Eggs going cold, toast hardening. Marlena’s stocked kitchen has been generous, but none of us have an appetite anymore.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Tomorrow at midnight, Marlena’s deadline hits.
Knox is staring at his coffee, turning the mug in slow circles on the table. Liam is pushing scrambled eggs around his plate. And I’m sitting here wondering how we went from mind-blowing sex to this funeral parlor atmosphere in twelve hours.
“So,” I begin, “it’s time we talk about it.
“The deadline,” I add when neither of them responds.
Knox speaks first. “We find another way out.”
“The door’s unlocked.” Liam sets his fork down. “And outside is miles of frozen wilderness that would kill us in an hour. No gear, no supplies, no idea which direction leads anywhere.”
“There has to be something—”
“There isn’t. Sometimes there just isn’t, Knox.”
“So we hand over the diamond and hope Marlena keeps her word?”
“I don’t see you coming up with alternatives.”
“Enough.” I press my palms flat against the table. “Both of you.”
They fall silent.
“Look,” Liam says, his tone shifting. Softer. More careful. “Maybe there’s a middle ground.”
He turns to me with that earnest expression I remember from our years working together. The face he made when he was trying to talk me into something risky.
“Hailey. Tell us where it is.”
I stare at him.
“The diamond. Where you hid it.” He reaches for my hand. “Maybe if we know, we can figure out a way to get it ourselves. Get ahead of Marlena.”
I pull my hand back and glance at the ceiling. At the corners of the room. At all the places we searched for cameras and found nothing—which doesn’t mean they’re not there.
“She could be listening right now, Liam.”
“She said she’s not watching constantly—”
“She said a lot of things. She also said she’d kill one of us without blinking.”
My gut clenches. That old warning bell, the one that’s kept me alive through jobs that should have gotten me killed.
I’ve been ignoring it since we got here.
“How did she know?” I blurt.
Liam blinks. “What?”
“Marlena. How did she know we were coming to retrieve the diamond?”
“She’s been tracking it for years. She has resources—”
“We flew private.” I’m watching his face now. “When we landed, she had teams waiting. Armed guards. Sedatives. This cabin stocked and ready. That’s not tracking. That’s advance notice.”
Knox straightens in his chair.
Liam’s appearance doesn’t change. But I’ve known him longer than anyone, and I catch the sweat beading at his temple.
“Maybe she got lucky,” he says.
“Nobody gets that lucky.”
I think about the lodge. The way Liam kept checking his phone at dinner. The way he seemed nervous but kept deflecting. The way everything went wrong so fast, so smoothly.
“What was the original plan?” I ask. “When you showed up at my apartment after five years. What was supposed to happen?”
“Kedrov was closing in. We needed to—”
“You said there were complications. Things you didn’t tell me about the job.” My pulse is pounding. “You promised you’d explain.”
“Hailey—”
“What was the plan, Liam?”
He doesn’t answer. It’s so quiet that I can hear the wind outside.
And I know. I’ve known since they threw us in here, if I’m honest. That whisper in the back of my mind that something was wrong, that the timing was too convenient.
I just didn’t want to believe it.
“You told her.” The words come out flat. “You told Marlena we were coming.”
“It’s not—”
“This whole thing. The resort. Getting grabbed.” I’m on my feet, chair scraping back. “You planned this.”
“It wasn’t supposed to go this way.”
Knox shoves back from the table.
“Explain,” he says. “Now.”
Liam runs both hands through his hair. “The kidnapping at the lodge was supposed to be it. Marlena’s people grab you, scare you, demand the location. You tell them—under duress, which is important—and then she retrieves it herself. Done.”