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)
For the briefest of moments, he looks vulnerable. “You killed your own son?” he repeats, and then his face hardens again.
“I’m done talking about this,” she says. “Do you want to die together or separately?”
I hold up a hand. “Tell me you brought your men. I mean, the mob.”
He shakes his head. “No. There’s nobody coming.”
Just then, twin pings echo through the window next to me, and both guards go down. Lillian shrieks and lifts her gun. Another ping echoes, and blood spurts from her head.
Glass shatters and something hits me in the temple. Darkness swirls around me, and I feel myself falling. Pain lances along my cheekbone as I hit the ground. My vision is gone. Terror slithers through me.
A ruckus echoes around me before a series of explosions rend the atmosphere. I smell fire, but I can’t move or open my eyes. More gunfire cracks through the air, followed by the sound of pounding footsteps.
“Rosalie. Rosalie wake up.”
I know that voice. It’s dark and it’s mine. Then I feel a kiss, his mouth on mine, and my eyelids flutter open. I reach up and slide a hand through his thick hair. His eyes open on mine, and he releases my mouth, leaning back.
“Rosie?”
I blink. The side of my face feels wet. I try to touch my face, and he holds my hand back.
“You’ve been cut, glass right in the temple.”
“Here you go.” Felix runs inside with a washcloth. “This is cold. We have to bring down the swelling right now.”
Alexei gently places the washcloth against my head and helps me sit up.
“Doc?” I ask, looking up. “What are you doing here?”
Percy runs inside with a semi-automatic weapon over his stooped shoulder, followed by Wally and Kenny. Soon all seven of my boarders are in the room along with Garik, Alexei, and a few men who look Russian.
“What in the heck just happened?” I ask weakly.
Alexei shakes his head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Percy moves closer. “You okay? Wally and I shot through the window. We didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You took out both guards?” I’m still dazed.
“Yeah. The seven of us descended on the place right about the same time as Garik and his force,” Percy says. “We almost shot each other, but it worked out.”
The world is not making sense.
Alexie sighs. “I didn’t have time to call in the mob, but these guys were already ahead of me.”
I look at Alexei, then I glance back at my seven elderly men. “What do you mean you descended on the place? How did you find me?”
Percy has the grace to blush. “We keep a tracker in your shoes.”
“Excuse me?” I say, and then wince as pain lances through my head.
Wally nods. “Yeah, we always have. We’ve been worried about you, and boy it was a pain in the ass putting trackers in all those new kitten heels you bought.” He gives Alexei a look.
Alexei looks right back.
This is a complication of which I had not expected. I grab Alexei’s hand. “I love you. Thought you should know.”
He leans down and kisses me again. “I love you as well, Peaflower.”
EPILOGUE
Rosalie
Three weeks later
I stand outside of my pretty pink house as the sound of whirring saws and pounding hammers fills the afternoon. Alexei agreed that we’d live here and then purchased the homes on every side of us to tear down so we can build a compound of sorts. I look over to the guest house, where several of my boarders are hard at work.
They accepted the offer of the free home, but they want to create it themselves. I’m a little worried what that means, because I saw plans for tunnels that would lead from the property in case of emergencies, as well as a place for a good ammunition depot. I’m not sure they know that they’re retired, but considering I’m surrounded by a good portion of the Russian mob most of the time, I choose not to worry about it.
Ella walks up from supervising the guest house, her laptop under one arm. “Hey.” She and Alexei declared a peace between them, and Ella promised she destroyed the video of him murdering David Fairfax.
“Hi,” I say. She’s agreed to stay for a week or so. She’s always been a free spirit, and she likes to train all over the world in hacking and computers. I know she’ll get that wanderlust soon. But for now, at least she’s safe.
She kicks at a pebble. “I did a bit more research into David Fairfax.”
I look around to make sure Alexei isn’t near. “You promised to stay out of that situation.”
She shrugs. “Couldn’t help it. Turns out Blythe Fairfax spent a good amount of time in different emergency rooms around the state.”
I blink. “Alexei said David abused her.”
Ella nods and watches the men at the guesthouse. “It certainly looks like it. Plus, he had a series of girlfriends through the years, even during his marriage, who all showed signs of pretty terrible abuse. Several underage.” She pats my arm. “Though I don’t think killing him was right.”