Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 54899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
A few minutes later, I find Ghost waiting for us in the foyer.
I frown. “You let yourself in?”
He taps his phone. “World’s best hacker, remember? Of course I can get past your security system. But don’t worry,” he says quickly. “I’m the one who installed it when you moved here. No one else will be able to get in without blowing the door off its hinges.”
My frown deepens to a scowl. I don’t want him referencing the possibility of that kind of assault in front of Karolina.
“Is that something I should be concerned about?” she asks coolly.
My brave girl isn’t cowering.
I lift our intertwined hands and kiss her knuckles.
“No one will get close to you,” Ghost says before I can reassure her. “I promised Ragnar I’ll watch your back.”
Her gaze whips to mine. “Ragnar?”
“It’s just a nickname.” I struggle not to glare at Ghost for his slip-up.
Karolina won’t like the prospect that I’ve concealed yet another layer of my identity from her.
But she’s far too clever to let it slide.
“That man in the café told me he was coming for me because of you, Brandon. He told me it was about revenge. About Ragnarök.”
The ground seems to shift beneath my feet.
Shit.
I had no idea that Costa used my assassin’s alias in front of her.
Ghost makes it so much worse when he says, “So, you finally told her who you really are. Thank fuck. I didn’t want to have to keep track of your web of lies.”
Her lips thin with mounting anger as she starts to put the pieces together. “I thought that man was talking about blowing up my life. Or I thought maybe he meant that he was going to kill me. But it wasn’t about that at all, was it? He was talking about you, Brandon.”
She says it like an accusation.
Ghost curses under his breath. “You didn’t tell her that part?”
“Tell me what?” she demands. “What does it mean that you’re Ragnarök?”
“I’m going to the kitchen,” Ghost announces. “I’ve been traveling for twelve hours. You’d better have beer in the fridge.” He brushes past us and adds, “Sort your shit out, Ragnar. I told you I don’t want to be involved in your drama.”
I growl and take a menacing step after him, but Karolina’s fingers tighten to a vise around mine.
“Oh no, you don’t. You’re not going anywhere until you explain.”
Ghost has the goddamn nerve to laugh at my expense as he strolls into the next room.
Nothing has ever been less fucking funny.
Her peridot eyes glitter. “Do not lie to me,” she warns. “I told you I’d give you time to open up about your past, but this is connected to the men who are threatening me.”
I wince. “I didn’t lie to you about it.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “You omitted it. Just like you didn’t tell me about your other identities. I want the truth. Right now. What does Ragnarök mean?”
“I don’t want to tell you. I never want you to know.”
Her eyes narrow. “What you want and what I need from you seem to be entirely different things. But I won’t compromise on this. Complete honesty from now on, Brandon. You want to earn my trust? Prove it.”
“Ragnarök is an assassin.” The admission is dragged from me like razorblades in my throat.
She stills.
Several seconds tick by. They feel like a lifetime.
“You’re Ragnarök.” Her tone is so calm and even. I can’t read her at all.
I manage a tight nod.
“You didn’t only kill in the ring. You lied to me. Again.”
“I didn’t lie,” I insist.
She throws up her hands, furious and frustrated. “Fine. You misled me.”
“I didn’t want you to learn what I really am,” I plead.
“Were they all criminals? Was that part true?”
I grimace. “Yes. But I told you before that I’m not a vigilante. I’m a monster, Karolina. You just never saw it in me.” I swallow hard. “The prospect of you seeing it now is shredding me. I can’t lose you.”
She purses her lips. “You wouldn’t lose me over this. Not if you explain. The only way you’ll lose me is if you keep deceiving me.” Her voice roughens with pain. “I can’t bear it. I want you so badly, but you’re hurting me when you hide things from me.”
Her admission that she wants me makes my legs go weak, and I drop to my knees before her. She doesn’t pull away when I take her chilled hands in mine.
“I never want to hurt you.”
“Then stop doing it,” she whispers. “Tell me why you think you’re a monster. It’s more than the fact that you were an assassin. You said you’ve always been this way. What did you do?”
A shudder wracks my body.
“It’s not something I did. It’s what I am. What I was born to be. Killing those men meant nothing to me. Murder is in my blood.”