Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“No, you should take it back.”
Tony gave a little screech and wagged his finger. Lorenzo smiled. “We don’t want to upset him.” The monkey jumped onto his shoulder. “We better get going.”
“Yes,” Remington said. “If monkey playtime is over, it would be nice to work on our plans to save everyone.”
Lorenzo rolled his eyes, and I smiled as everyone but Lancelot and Alina headed out the door.
“He’s cute,” Alina said.
“Tony?”
“Yes, but I meant Lorenzo, and he’s so into you.”
“No, he’s not. Things aren’t…”
She stared at me with raised brows.
“Yes, he’s hot.”
“Better.” She patted my shoulder. “What happened to your arm?”
I sighed. “My father.”
“So they really haven’t hurt you here?” She glanced toward Lancelot. What did she plan to do if he was a threat? He could easily pick her up in one hand.
“No one has hurt me here. They’ve taken care of me. Lorenzo… He’s been really great.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Just how great has he been to you?”
Heat filled my face, and I knew my cheeks were turning red. “That’s not something we need to discuss.”
Lancelot chuckled, and I scowled at him. As big as he was, and as easily as he could kill me, he didn’t give off a threatening air. I was no more scared of him than I was of Lorenzo.
“How much do you have to pay them for protection?” Alina asked.
“We don’t charge victims for our services,” Lancelot said. “That’s another way we differ from Dimitri and your fucking father.”
If that were true, then my “bargain” with Lorenzo really was just a game. I didn’t want to think about that. I needed it to be something I had to do, or I’d be way too embarrassed to act like I had with him.
“I hope there are a lot more ways you differ from him,” Alina said.
“I have a husband I’m devoted to, and we’re thinking about adopting a baby.”
“Yeah, that would be different. My father would have preferred to create a few sons out of thin air and never have to marry. He’d never be loyal to one person. As soon as he tires of someone, he kills them.”
My eyes widened. “He kills them?”
He arranged to have my mother killed as soon as she had given him an heir, and he disposes of the boys he prefers as soon as he’s done with them. He’s killed some of them. Some have died from injuries he’s given them, and others wish they were dead. Why do you think I was working so hard to make sure you didn’t end up with him.”
The room spun around me, and I had to sit on the bed. “So it is true that I wasn’t really being given to you. I was being given to your father.” I’d known that, and Lorenzo had believed it too, but somehow, hearing her say it made the horror of what I’d escaped that much more real.
“Yes, and you’re older than the boys he prefers. He would probably have killed you once I’d had a child to be another heir for him.”
I’d known Ivanov wanted me in his bed, and I’d been terrified of how rough he’d be, but I hadn’t thought he’d murder me once he was done.
Alina laid a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. He’s never going to touch you now.”
“We have to stop him from hurting anyone else,” I said. I’d never believed I had the power to stop someone like my father or Ivanov, but I didn’t care what it took. I was going to help Alina and the Theriots bring him down.
“Yes, we do. I think they’re downstairs, working on a plan for that now.”
Lancelot nodded.
“Good,” she said. “Now, let’s talk about this.” She laid her hand on the watch Lorenzo had slipped onto my wrist. “I think Tony may be a very smart little monkey.”
24
LORENZO
Remington glared at me. “Obviously, you didn’t listen to my instructions about Nikolai.”
From his perch on my shoulder, Tony pointed a finger at him and chattered loudly.
Rafe laughed. “I think Tony disagrees with you. He seems to like Renzo and Niko together.”
Remington narrowed his eyes at the monkey. “That’s enough. Do you want to be sent to the car?”
Tony screeched.
I shook my head. “You wouldn’t leave him in a hot car.”
Remington sighed. “With the AC on, obviously. I’m not a monster.” Dante raised his brows, and Remington huffed. “Not to animals.”
“Didn’t he escape from the car the last time you made Lancelot leave him?” Dante asked.
“That’s enough. I’m not here to talk about this insane animal. Lorenzo, your involvement with Nikolai as anything but a bodyguard stops now. I won’t have you involved with the Russians.”
I fought the urge to yell at him, to tell him Niko was mine and I would do whatever the fuck I pleased with him, but now was not the time for that. I wanted Niko, but I wasn’t safe for him, and we needed to focus on destroying Dimitri and Ivanov.