Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 103712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
“You’re safe,” Ash added, moving to her other side. “He can’t hurt you. Won’t hurt you. We won’t let him.”
“I know.” But Katya’s voice was thready, distant. “I know that. But my body... it remembers.”
Hunter crouched in front of his sister, holding her trembling hands in his massive grip. “Do you want it to stop? We can handle this without you, in other ways.”
“Or send you somewhere safe until it’s over,” Ash said.
“No.” The word came out with reaffirmed strength. “No, I need to do this. I need to face him.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” Stone said fiercely. “You don’t owe him confrontation. You don’t owe anyone your pain.”
“I owe myself.” Katya’s chin lifted with stubborn courage. “I owe that scared girl who couldn’t fight back. She deserves to see him brought down.”
The love between the siblings was so intense it was almost hard to witness. These dangerous, ruthless men became something entirely different around their sister—gentle, protective, willing to move mountains to keep her safe.
Marigold envied their bond. Their loyalty for each other was the polar opposite of Jordan’s disdain for her.
“Fifteen minutes,” Cole reported. “If little bird wants to go back to her wing, I should take her now.”
“What do you want to do, Kat?” Ash asked, brow pinched with worry for his surrogate sister.
Katya looked at the monitors, expression unsure.
Hunter stood, his expression shifting back to predatory focus. “Final positions. Remember, he thinks he’s in control until he isn’t. Let him get comfortable before we remind him whose territory this is.”
“Before we show him what happens to unwelcomed trespassers,” Stone sneered.
The staff, except for the lead officer, Cole, dispersed with military efficiency, leaving the family alone in the security office. Katya had stopped shaking, but Marigold could see the effort it cost her.
“Where will we be?” Marigold asked.
“The two of you will stay here, with Cole,” Hunter said. “Then, when it’s time, one of us will come to collect you. Do not open the door for anyone but me, Stone, or Ash. Do not leave this room alone or with anyone but us. Understand?”
Marigold nodded.
“Good. Cole’s fully armed. He’ll protect you.”
Cole’s gun cocked as if to confirm Hunter’s statement. These men were not playing around. No flashlights and segways for them. They were fully armed with guns, silencers, Kevlar, and blades.
“Is that weapon even legal?” she asked, eyeing the massive bazooka-looking thing hanging inside the hidden closet built into the wall.
Stone slammed it shut and typed in a code. “Legal by our laws. That’s all that matters.”
It worried her that they were confronting Jordan in street clothes with only small pistols tucked under their suit jackets.
“What if I freeze?” Katya asked quietly. “What if, when I see him, I can’t speak?”
“Then one of us will speak for you,” Ash said simply.
“You still have the option of not seeing him at all,” Hunter reminded. “But if that’s your choice you should make it now.”
Katya glanced at the monitors tracking Jordan’s approach. She worried her lower lip, unsure what to do.
“It’s better if we stay together.” Cole pointed to the monitors. “I can keep a better eye on everything with the women here.”
“What do you want, sister?” Stone asked in a unique display of compassion and patience.
“I want it to be over. Can I stay in my room? I promise to lock the door.”
“If that’s what you want.”
She looked up at Cole with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” he said with militant formality. “I’ll be watching.”
Her smile was tentative.
“You’re not alone in this anymore,” Ash reminded. “You have all of us and nothing to fear.”
“That’s right.” Marigold reached for Katya’s hand, squeezing gently.
The Volkovs welcomed her into their private circle, a place deeply protected for family alone. They were as good as sisters now. And sisters protect each other.
Katya smiled despite her fear. Her grip tightened around Marigolds. Sturdier now. Calm. “It’ll all be over soon.”
“I’ll walk you to your room,” Ash said, taking Katya’s hand. He paused and placed a kiss on Marigold’s lips. “In case I don’t see you before the big show.”
“Ten minutes,” Cole announced, gaze glued to the monitors.
Stone moved to a bank of computers, his fingers dancing across controls with practiced ease. The screens came alive with feed from the harbor, showing a sleek yacht cutting through dark water toward their dock.
“There,” he said quietly. “Jordan Calder comes calling.”
Even from a distance, even on grainy security footage, Marigold could see her half-brother’s familiar figure standing at the yacht’s bow. Tall, golden-haired, traditionally handsome in a way that made people trust him despite the screaming warnings of all natural instincts.
Beside her, Katya made a sound like a wounded animal, drawing Marigold’s attention as she prepared to come face to face with her nightmare. “I can’t,” she whispered, all her earlier bravado crumbling. “I thought I could, but I can’t. He’s here and I can’t breathe. I—”