Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 156728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 522(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 522(@300wpm)
“Were you...” Daisy hesitated. “Captured?”
“Twice.” Maggie’s cheeks flushed. “My heart was beating like a rabbit the first time. But once I got past the shock, it wasn’t that bad.” She laughed. “Honestly, it was good. Afterwards, I had a rest, ate something, and then went back out. Everyone at the safe zone was so nice.”
Daisy exhaled with relief. “And the second capture?”
“The second hunter was better than the first! We actually hung out for a while…after.” Something flickered behind Maggie’s big eyes. Not trauma. Something warmer, more private. She didn’t elaborate, and Daisy didn’t want to pry.
Only then did Maggie’s gaze drop, traveling from Daisy’s plunging neckline to her satin train and back up again. “But look at you. You look...” She blinked. “Wow.”
“It’s a long story.”
“I bet it is.” Maggie grinned, but didn’t press.
Her dark mane framed her face in tangled waves that punctuated her big eyes. They burned with a livewire energy that hadn’t been there before.
“I feel like this was the longest night of my life,” Maggie admitted with a stunned laugh.
“I feel the same.”
“We’re going to sleep for days once we—”
A blur of red slammed into Maggie from behind.
“There you two are!”
Trisha materialized like a fierce hurricane, her blunt American accent cutting through the noise as if she were screaming in the stands of a football game. She radiated the manic energy of someone who just robbed a casino and got away clean, her hair a tangled disaster and her face flushed as red as her dress.
She snapped her fingers at them. “Remind me of your names again?”
“Maggie.”
“Daisy.”
Trisha pointed at each of them, committing it to memory, then waved her own effort away. “You know what, it doesn’t even matter. Chances are we’ll never see each other again.” She laughed, loud and unapologetic. “Hell, after tonight we can all change our names—become whoever the fuck we want!”
“How did you make out?” Maggie asked.
“Seventeen scores.” Trisha’s grin split her face wide open. “That’s eighteen million.”
Daisy’s eyes widened. She glanced down at Trisha’s dress. Muddied, yes. Grass-stained and worse for wear. But not in tatters. Not what seventeen captures should have produced.
“You were captured seventeen times?”
“Captured?” Trisha scoffed, swatting the word from the air. “They were my marks.” She planted her hands on her hips. “With six kids at home, I ain’t got time to mess around. I came to fucking collect! Now, my babies will get everything they deserve. No more shitty healthcare. No more living in the projects or waiting for the bus. Fuck, it feels good to take from billionaires for once, instead of the other way around!” She adjusted her breasts with the aggression one would use to fluff a pillow. “Tax the mother fuckin’ rich! You know?” She cackled again, tossing her hair over one shoulder.
“S—sure,” Maggie said, unblinking.
“Eh, just another day of being a mom. Anyway, I gotta split. My tits and ass are a fucking biohazard, and I plan to sit in a bath for the next two days.” And with that, she swept back into the crowd like the force of nature she was.
Maggie and Daisy stared after her, mouths agape, then looked back at each other and burst into laughter.
The crowd pressed forward around them, bodies funneling toward the entrance. “We should probably get going,” Maggie said.
Daisy sobered. “Oh, I, um…” She glanced back at Jack, who had been pulled deeper into a cluster of hunters on the other side of the staircase. “I’m actually going to stay back.”
“What?” She followed Daisy’s gaze to the group of men. “Did you make a connection?”
“I think, yes. It’s a little too early to tell.”
Maggie studied her face and smiled. “Wow. This entire experience has been quite the surprise.”
It was Daisy’s turn to laugh. “I know. I want to stay in touch—”
“Absolutely!” Maggie gripped her hand. “Let’s meet somewhere. One week from today. A café, somewhere proper where the rich go!”
“Where?”
Maggie’s face lit up. “Oh, let’s pick somewhere completely posh! You’re in London, right? What about that big gilded brasserie on Piccadilly? I’ve always wondered what it would be like to sip tea in that grand old room.” She paused, chewing her lip. “I’d have to figure out the logistics of getting there, but...” She waved the worry away like brushing a fly. “I’ll just figure out how to buy a seat on a plane. My God, Daisy, can you imagine what our lives will be once the dust from all of this settles?”
Daisy couldn’t. Not yet. It was still too enormous to conceive. “Next Saturday,” she confirmed, squeezing her fingers. “At noon.”
“Brilliant.” They hugged again, tighter this time. “I’d better go before my limo leaves without me.” She laughed again, already drifting toward the doors. “Another limo! Will you look at us?”
Daisy smiled and waved, then turned to search for Jack. He was deep in conversation with two men. One she didn’t recognize. The other made her blood run cold.