Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
He flinches under my direct attention. I let him simmer in the suspense and fear, curious what he’ll say.
“He…he told me.” He gulps, the only pause I have patience for as he confesses. “He told me he was gonna take over.
“Shut up!” Roman yells as the guards hold him in place.
“He wanted to…to…” He sobs.
It’s one cry, a pathetic sound I can’t bring myself to care about. I raise my gun and fire once. A single hole darkens the spot between his eyes. I hear Liliana gasp from the back room where Viktor sequestered her and her staff. Before going to her, I turn again, this time to the man who slapped her.
“Any last words?” I ask mildly.
“Please,” he begs, eyes going glossy with tears.
I look at the guards holding him. “Take him away. See that he feels what he did to her tenfold before letting him wish for the end.”
It would be far more satisfying to vent my anger and punish him myself. But the need to go to Liliana outweighs the urge to handle him personally.
I don’t need to give the men instructions. They’ll dispose of the body, punish the other man, and drag Roman out of my sight. What I need is to feel Liliana in my arms and make sure she’s unharmed and spared any more trauma.
She swallows hard as she watches me come through the swinging door to her.
Without breaking eye contact once, her vulnerable blue gaze locked on mine, she lets out a long, shaky breath and steps toward me. We meet in the middle. She throws herself at me and I wrap my arms around her instantly. With every second that passes, with the comfort of having her against me, I calm and my heart slows. I breathe her in deeply, treasuring her presence, and I know that as long as I’m the one she wants, the one she turns to, I don’t stand a chance of losing her.
“Let’s go home,” I tell her, echoing what I said last night. What I’ll say for the rest of my life.
I half expect her to argue, to insist she needs to stay and help the staff.
“Your staff can handle the day,” I say softly, urging her to lean on me.
She nods, still too pale and shaken for my liking. Then, before she can pull back, I bend slightly, scoop her into my arms, and carry her away from the gruesome scene that never should have happened.
29
LILIANA
There’s something about being in Anton’s arms that instantly calms me. The closer my heart beats to his, the more level-headed I am.
It’s not some magical twist of suddenly, head-over-heels falling in love.
It’s something I haven’t felt in a very, very long time.
I can relax as he carries me out of the bakery because of something else.
Something like security.
He is the boss and he demands control, but like this, I realize it’s exactly what I’ve been missing for most of my life. To be able to have someone who can encourage me to lower my guard. That if I’m not on and managing everything, the world won’t fall apart.
Anton gives me that security—the one thing I never realized I was missing.
I sigh, resting my cheek against him as he steps around the counter and past the man who held a gun to my head.
His voice rumbles through his chest as he orders the men who came with him. Viktor’s reply reaches me, but I tune it out, focusing on the hard cushion of Anton’s chest, the secure grip of his thick, muscled arms around me. While he instructs the crew to wrap up the scene and handle the cleanup, I don’t have to wonder if he’ll see to Jenni and the others. He wouldn’t whisk me away without leaving a plan for the bakery.
They’ll get it covered.
Because this man has me covered.
I’m not sure what to say as he carries me out into the cool spring morning. I stay just as wordless on the ride to his building, still processing everything that happened. Already, I’m starting to know the route by heart.
He thinks it’s my home, and as the building comes into view and the pressure of his hand stays constant in mine, I know it is. It will be.
In all the years of working at the bakery and seeing my parents make poor business choices, and then during the time I was with Roman and dismissed as being not good enough, I’ve never had stability. No true sense of home. If anything, that small bakery that I want to keep going with Jenni is my home.
Since meeting Anton and feeling this deep comfort of his protection, I want to believe that he can truly change and not be overwhelmingly controlling. That he can give me the home I want.
With love.