Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Hearing Abbott say that fills me up, but at the same time, I wonder what the fuck is wrong with everyone else. How no one has seen how fucking incredible this man is. The man with the world’s biggest heart, who saves lives, but has somehow found it in himself to love me, even though I take them.
But now isn’t the time. We have a lot to figure out.
“We need to figure out what the fuck to do here,” I say.
“This isn’t a normal body. This is the governor of the fucking state,” Conan adds. “People are going to notice him missing.”
“I wanted to kill him myself,” I growl, looking down at the motherfucker, flashes of him pointing a gun at Abbott playing through my head. “He was supposed to be mine.”
“He…it was him. I don’t understand why he tried to have me killed,” Abbott says.
I look at the others in the room, giving them a silent warning, making sure they don’t tell him the rest of it. He needs to know, but not now. That should be done when it’s just the two of us.
I hear footsteps on the stairs, and a second later, Tiernan and the others come back in. “One shooter. We found where he took the shot from, but he wasn’t there. We searched, but nothing,” Tiernan updates me.
“This was a professional hit,” Finan needlessly says—one shot, hitting the target perfectly in the head. Definitely a professional kill shot. “And these bodies…these aren’t official bodyguards.”
“No, they’re not,” Abbott says. “I noticed that too. I know the men my father has had when he needed protection, and this was different. Also, I could tell by some of the things he said that he was worried about something. He kept telling me I didn’t know what I’d done.”
“And it was clear something is going on that involves us,” I add. How we would have any connections to this man outside of Abbott, I have no idea. “He was dirty. I think that much is obvious. Whoever shot him…they only went after him. They could have taken at least some of us out too, but they didn’t…” Is there a reason behind that? Or just that they only cared about Preston? If they had something on the governor, they’re likely the kind of people who know who we are too. Why were we left standing?
“But they know we were here,” Cillian adds, and there are a million ways that could come back to bite us. “And if you’re saying something else is tying us to whatever the governor had going on…what does it mean that they know we were here with him?”
I don’t know. None of this is adding up, and I don’t like unanswered questions.
“What do you want us to do?” Conan asks.
“First, we need to figure out how we’re dealing with these bodies, and then we can handle the rest.”
Before I can continue, Abbott says, “You guys should leave. The last thing we need is you tied to it for any reason. I can just tell them my father drugged me and—”
“That motherfucker drugged you?” I snarl, hardly able to contain my anger.
“Dad. Focus.” Cillian throws a half-smile my direction. “Fuck, you’re worse than T when someone looks at Dean wrong.”
He’s right, but Christ, I wish I could have been the one to kill him. Slowly. “Tell us everything you know first,” I say to Abbott. “Can you do that?”
“Yes,” he replies, then repeats everything he can remember from when he arrived here—his father’s message, the call, taking a drink, and then waking up to his father on the phone. Abbott is a trouper through it all, dealing with all this much better than I thought he would. But then, it’s not like I haven’t pulled him into shit since the moment I met him—kidnapping him, threats from both Conan and me…leading him to the woods, thinking he would die.
My hold on him tightens. He shouldn’t even be here with me after everything, but he is, and I damn sure plan to deserve him.
“He’s working with people, and it sure aren’t official,” Finan says.
“But who?” Conan asks.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” I reply. “Until we get some real answers, we need to tread very carefully.” I think for a moment, trying to figure out the best thing to do. “Don’t tell them what we know about your father. You were here for a visit. Someone shot him through the window. That’s all you know.” This whole situation is off. I feel it in my bones, and if there is one thing I always do, it’s trust my gut, and my gut is screaming right now that somehow, in a way I don’t understand, this involves us.
“What about the other bodies?” Rory asks.
“Take everyone but the governor with you. That’s why I said no guns if we could keep from it. Easier cleanup. Take photos of their faces so we can try to ID them.” We checked for cameras, and there are none, but then, that makes sense if the governor had illegal shit going on here.