Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“He gave me a hint they might be hiding in a cave system. That means my men have to scour the state in the hopes we chance across the correct one. Either that, or I pay him fifty million. Which means he can use that cash.”
“To buy drugs, guns, or to hurt more people.”
“Exactly,” Dom says gruffly. “But if I don’t, he hinted that he’d come after me, my company.” Dom’s tone grows dark, almost like he wants the fight. “If that was all he had, I’d leap at the chance. I’d forfeit my business’s reputation, forget the reasons I left the mob. Become the man I never wanted to be. I’d slaughter every. Single. One.”
I take a step back, a shudder moving through me. Dom seems like a different person: like a wild animal ready to fight tooth and nail.
“But he’s got something else. He showed me a video, Evie.”
Tears rise to my eyes, stinging them.
“You should’ve told me,” he says. “It’s not like you wanted to mule those drugs for him. Like you had a choice.”
“But I did. I could’ve left. I know Mom wanted to stay, but I was an adult. I could’ve gone. I did it. Don’t take responsibility for me. I’m a criminal.”
“They forced you.”
“How do you know that? You don’t even know me. Maybe I was happy to do it.”
He walks right up to me, brining his heat with him, staring at me with those hellfire eyes. “I know you’re better than a two-bit criminal in a two-bit biker gang. I know you did this for your mother, because you feared what Mason and the gang would do to her if you refused. I know you regret doing it. That you’re a good person.”
I put my hand on his chest. He’s burning up through his shirt. He looks ready to kill.
“What are you going to do?” I whisper.
“Find them. Make them stop.”
“What if you can’t?” I hesitate, then find my courage. “You’ll have to call his bluff. Let him send the video to the cops. I did what I did; I’ll do my time.”
Dom snarls and grabs my hips, pulling me violently against him. “That’s not happening under any circumstances.”
“You can’t pay them.”
“That’s not happening either.”
He kisses me suddenly, taking me off-guard. Without warning, I’ve got no time to figure out how I’m supposed to feel. My body responds as I sink my hands into his arms.
“I’m not letting him ruin your life,” he snaps. “How many times do I have to say it? I. Am. Your. Protector. Whether you like it or not.”
He pulls me in for another kiss. My nipples push through my T-shirt, my core responding with a triggering of heat. He lifts me off my feet, and my legs wrap around him as if it’s automatic.
Laying me down on the couch, he grinds his crotch against me, his erection pushing against my sex and making me sizzle with the closeness.
“Stop,” I whisper, but he kisses me again, and I want it, and I hate I want it, and I love it. “Dom—”
“You don’t want me to stop,” he groans, pushing his hand against my crotch, grinding up and down so that my clit grows hot and ultrasensitive.
“Maybe I don’t, but I’m telling you to!”
He stands, literally shaking, his lips red from our kisses.
“I’d say you don’t have any idea how irresistible you are, but that’d be a lie.”
“Oh, really?” I say, unable to hide the bitterness from my tone.
“You’re aware of your beauty, Keepsake. You know how difficult it is for me to hold myself back. You turned me into a savage the moment I laid eyes on you, and that hasn’t changed since. So, let me tell you something. I’m not going to allow you to turn yourself in for The Vultures. I’m going to protect you from them – and yourself.”
He looms over me.
“And there’s something else. You might want to believe you had control, that you weren’t a pawn in their game, but you had no choice but to do what they said. They brainwashed you from the time you were a kid. They had your mother as a bargaining chip. You committed those crimes, but you’re not to blame.”
“Are you to blame for what you did?” I stand, glaring up at him, knowing I’m pissed at myself but needing to aim it elsewhere. “Back in my apartment, you told Mason he was lucky he didn’t catch you in your twenties. Was that because you committed crimes for the mob?”
He turns away in disgust. “That’s who you think I am.”
His response softens me. “I’m asking you a question… and you’re not denying it.”
“I was talking about my time in the Teams,” he grunts. “Back then, I never hesitated. When it was time to pull the trigger, I pulled it. I didn’t work with the mob, even if… certain people wanted me to.”