Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Because fuck the investigation. And fuck Silas. Whatever he was up to, he could take care of himself. I’d spent so much time worried about him. Was he in trouble? Did he need an assist? What was he doing?
Now Sylvie was out there, no one watching her back because she didn’t fucking trust any of us anymore. Because she thought we were more worried about Silas than we were about finding the man who was trying to kill her.
Goddamn it.
“As long as Sylvie’s okay,” I said, “I don’t care about the investigation.”
“Too bad you didn’t figure that out sooner,” Emmett muttered under his breath.
“I swear to God, man. I’m going to knock you out cold if you don’t shut the fuck up.” My hands curled into fists at my sides.
Emmett just smirked at me. I was reasonably sure I could take him, but then again, Emmett was a dangerous motherfucker—cold as ice when he needed to be and almost unstoppable in a fight. Still. If he didn’t shut up, I was going to take a shot. I might not be able to beat him, but I could make him regret opening his mouth. Later.
“I don’t have time for this,” I said. I was done. The only thing that mattered was finding Sylvie and making sure she was safe.
Maddox glanced at the map on Emmett’s screen. “I’m coming with. At the least, you need a driver. There’s not going to be any parking, and you don’t have time to burn looking.”
“Keep an eye on her,” I said to Emmett as I turned to leave. “If she moves, let us know.”
Emmett nodded, his eyes locked on the screen. “Go. Get your girl and bring her back.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
SYLVIE
Iblinked into the dark, not registering how my eyes could be open, but I couldn’t see a thing. My lashes brushed whatever was covering my eyes, and instinctively, I went to reach for my face. My hands were stuck. I tried to turn and look, but I couldn’t move.
Panic washed through me. I sucked in a breath, jerking, turning, twisting—nothing. I had a few inches of give as my clothes slipped over my skin, but something was holding me still. A chair. Was I in a chair?
I tilted my head, trying to brush my cheek against my shoulder to see if I could dislodge whatever was obscuring my vision, but I didn’t have enough range of motion.
“You’re not going to get loose,” a voice said—familiar, but not that familiar. A man. My age? Not much older or younger.
It all came flooding back. The friendly smile and dark curly hair. The guy who’d reminded me of a real estate agent and an office with paper over the windows. The offer to let me look at the security cameras.
The one I’d gotten the bad vibes from, seconds before he attacked me.
Fuck.
“Did you tase me?” I managed to say, my voice rough.
“Pressure injector. Low dose of ketamine. It was the most efficient way to deal with you at the time. Your head will clear in a minute or two.” How could he sound so pleasant while apologizing for tasing me?
A chill slid down my spine. “Why?” I asked, not sure what kind of answer I was looking for. There couldn’t be a good one.
“Loose ends,” he answered conversationally.
I blinked against whatever covered my eyes. “Am I blindfolded?”
There was a rustle of fabric. I imagined him shrugging. “It’s more fun this way. For me, obviously. Not for you.”
“Why—”
“We don’t have a lot of time for whys,” he said, his voice growing louder as I caught a footfall on the floor. It sounded like concrete, tile—something hard, not the carpet there’d been in the office. The air here was cold, damp. A basement?
He hadn’t looked like a big guy. How far could he have dragged me? How long was I out?
“Why don’t we have a lot of time?” I asked, focusing on the thing that seemed to matter the most. I wished I could see his face. His tone didn’t tell me enough about whether the time comment was meant as logistical or a threat.
“My guess is the Creed Global team never wanted you out of their sight. They’re probably coming for you. I was sloppy getting into your website from here, even with a VPN. I should have known they’d track me back. I got a little cocky. Now this location’s burned.” He paused. “On the upside, I have you. Once we’re finished, I’m just down to Silas.”
Fear curled in my stomach at his calm. Even without the loose-end comment, this guy was surprisingly chatty. That didn’t bode well. People only gave up their secrets when they had good reason, or when they had nothing to fear because they were about to silence the person they were talking to.
I pushed down the panic. I had to stay sharp, use what I could to stay alive.