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)
My men worked with the quiet efficiency of people who had done this before. Two carried a body wrapped in a black tarp between them, boots crunching through debris.
Across the room, Knuckles hovered near his daughter. Pippa had slid to the floor, her back against the wall, knees drawn to her chest. Her face was buried in her knees as she sobbed. Knuckles laid one hand on her shoulder. The other hung at his side in a fist so tight the skin of his hand blanched white. He watched the room, and the stillness in him was worse than any rage I had ever seen.
It wasn’t long before someone came for Pippa, and several of them left, presumably to go to the hospital. Gunnar had been loaded into the private ambulance fifteen minutes ago. The medics had worked fast. They’d stabilized him enough to move. Enough to give him a chance.
I turned away and walked the perimeter of the room. The structural damage was worse than I’d first thought. The outer wall had buckled inward. Steel reinforcements bent at odd angles, and concrete dust still sifted from the ceiling. The building was compromised. We’d known Haven was vulnerable, but nothing like this. Well. We’d already discussed moving the women’s shelter deeper into the property. Now, it seemed the discussion was over.
My head of security, Kass, fell into step beside me. He didn’t look at me and he kept his voice low. “Four hostiles. Three dead. One got out through the service corridor but not off the property. We found him two blocks east. Got him in the trunk.”
I nodded. “And the hit?”
He paused. “Guy said they were after a woman.” He handed me a picture but he didn’t have to tell me who they’d come for. Tessa knew way more about people who would do anything to keep their secrets than those people could afford.
I looked back at her. She had moved to the other side of the room, helping with the cleanup. Her shirt was torn at the shoulder. The cut above her temple had stopped bleeding, but the dried blood made a lock of hair stick to her forehead.
The woman she’d helped earlier, Melanie, sat nearby, wrapped in a blanket, staring at the wall. Tessa checked on her every few minutes. I watched Tessa’s face when she thought no one was looking. The guilt she felt was plain as daylight, even though she’d had no control over any of this.
The longer I observed her, the more intrigued I became. And I was already fucking intrigued. I wanted her behind my walls. Tonight. Not only would it be safer for the residents of Haven, but Tessa would be safer with my security. Plus, I’d get the added bonus of being able to study her. To figure out what made her tick.
“One more thing, Tonio.” Kass’s normally unflappable expression turned dark.
I looked at my head of security, narrowing my gaze. Kass was… pissed. “Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like what you have to say next.”
“Because you’re not. Iron’s gone. Guys are still working out how, but he killed two guards and almost killed a third.”
“When?” I ground my teeth.
“Best we can tell, ten minutes after the attack here started.”
“This day just keeps getting better,” I mumbled, scrubbing a hand over my face. “I want her moved. Tonight. Take her to the property in the Smokies.”
Kass nodded and moved away to make the call. My father took Kastiel in when we were both boys, so I’d grown up with him. Other than my father, I trusted Kass the most of any person in my life.
I didn’t want to examine the thing in my chest. I didn’t need to. I knew what it was because I had the same fucking feeling for the people in my life who mattered. My father. My sister’s child, Carrie. Darby, my daughter, though God knew I’d tried to bury it all deep enough it wouldn’t surface. But it was the same feeling. The same certainty that Tessa would not be harmed on my watch.
I watched her a moment longer. Then I moved toward her, knowing I’d started making arrangements she didn’t know she needed and might not be too happy about.
The distinctive growl of a Harley cut off, then boots hit the gravel outside, moving quickly in our direction.
“Goddamn it. We missed the whole fucking party.” Darby came through the shattered doorway. My daughter had never needed an invitation to enter anywhere. She wore a leather property vest over a threadbare T-shirt, her dark hair pulled back in that messy braid that never quite contained all the pieces.
Sully followed three steps behind her, attempting to hold her back but failing miserably. As usual. He finally gave up trying to corral her and put his time to better use sweeping the room for any threats still in play.