Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I nod. “It’ll help if they’re treated well. I want you to double everyone’s pay within the next month or so.”
His eyebrows rise. “That’ll get you loyalty for sure.”
“I’m not sure if it’ll get me loyalty, but I’ll take what I can get right now.” My phone buzzes, and I look down at a text from the two men guarding Rosalie. My heart stops.
“What’s wrong?” Garik asks.
“They lost Rosalie.”
Garik begins moving toward the door as fast as I do. “How could they have lost her? She said she was on her way with her lawyer to surrender herself at the police station.”
She texted us earlier. “I don’t know.” I should’ve instantly headed her way.
Garik quickly sends a text and then pauses as his phone dings in response. “I have two sources in the police department. She’s not there, and they’re making plans to find and arrest her since she didn’t turn herself in.”
I pause. Then my phone rings and I lift it to my ear. “Sokolov.”
“Hello, dear stepson, how are you?”
I briefly close my eyes and then pause again. “Lillian, what have you done?” I’m going to kill her this time. I really am.
“I have a friend of yours here with me.”
“You actually have my wife,” I say. “If you hurt her, you know what I’ll do to you.”
Silence reigns for a few moments. “Your wife? You actually wedded the lawyer? I would have bet against that.”
“Is she hurt?” I ask.
There’s a rustle. “No, she’s perfectly fine. Here.”
“Hi, Alexei,” Rosalie says. “I’m sorry. It was stupid. They killed Joseph Cage.”
I wince. They murdered her lawyer? I’m starting to imagine how they captured her. “In front of you?”
“Um, yeah,” she says.
“Put Lillian back on.” If they allowed her to see a murder, they don’t plan for her to survive the day. “Lillian, I don’t have enough words to describe what I’m going to do to you if you hurt her. Tell me you get me.” My voice is low and gravelly. I can barely get the words out.
Lillian sighs. “I actually don’t want to hurt her. She’s smart and I like her, but this is going to go my way and my way only.”
“What do you want?” I bark out.
I swear it sounds like she purrs. “The first thing I want is for you to go to Hologrid Hub and charge the servers.”
This is unexpected. “Excuse me?”
“Hendrix is dead. I don’t have the ability, and I haven’t found anyone who comes close. We’re losing subscribers by the second, so the first thing I need you to do is charge the crystals.”
I’m stunned for a moment, which is very rare. Does she understand that it’s a two-way exchange? She must not. “All right, and then what?” I walk outside toward my waiting bike with Garik on my heels.
She chuckles. “Then we’ll negotiate. Obviously, we have a problem here.”
“You’re the one with the problem.” I straddle the motorcycle.
“Not if I don’t hurt your precious. I am willing to reach an agreement, but first the servers. Call me when you’re done.” She clicks off.
I look at Garik. “It’s just you and me. We don’t have anyone else I trust to go.”
He looks at me, his gaze hard. “I’ll go in now if you want.”
I shake my head. “No. Lillian has too many men there.” The second I attack, she might kill Rosalie before I can get to her.
A rock drops into my gut. I’ve never felt true fear before. Not like this. I told Rosalie that I’d try to find love, and apparently I have. If she dies, there’s no reason for me to keep on breathing.
I twist the key, my bike roars to life, and I’m headed down the street before I completely lose my mind. There’s a part of me—a small part not terrified for Rosalie and not pissed off at Lillian—that awakens in anticipation. I miss the amethyst and need the exchange of energy. Most people don’t understand, and that’s how we want it.
I duck my head as I open the throttle, zipping through the city around cars, over sidewalks, and through alleys toward the main center of Hologrid Hub—feeling the energy the closer I get.
Hologrid Hub uses holographic interchanges between users so they can actually engage in experiences at the same time, the same place. Someday soon, we’ll create an interface where people can experience a telepathic bond. We’re not there yet, but I’m determined that my company will get there first.
I ride into the lower garage of Hologrid Hub, past armed guards who don’t shoot me, and park in my old spot. I sprint into the open elevator and hit the down button.
Anticipation fires lightning through my veins. I know exactly where to go, and I descend several miles down in the earth. The door smoothly opens into the power center of Hologrid Hub.