Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
He waited, letting me connect the dots.
They already knew about me.
Holy shit.
They’d looked into my cousin, found his address.
“Is my cousin in danger?”
“He’s probably being monitored to see if you show up again. And if you do, I’ve no doubt that you’ll be snatched to try to lure me out.”
He’d been right to kidnap me.
I deflated.
“I put in some calls and confirmed the contract on my head, but your pictures were added. You need to stay away from your family, for their safety, at this point.”
“Even my mom? My aunts?”
“You have to proceed with caution. Don’t contact them.”
Aunt Clara and Bess would not be happy about that. Or my mom. “Um, that might backfire.”
His jaw clenched. “Sawyer.”
I unfolded and leaned forward. He had to hear this. “You don’t understand. My mom and my aunts, they’re not normal.”
He was gripping his bowl so hard.
I shook my head. I had to get through to him. “My mom is old-fashioned. She’s a little like the Montana version of a Stepford wife, but my aunts are not. They’re so the opposite, but the one thing those three have in common is the lengths they’ll go to for me. My aunts didn’t have kids. I am their kid. You’re not getting one mom. You’re getting three. If I don’t contact them, they will come here to look for me. They will raise hell until I’m found. Trust me.”
He was quiet for a moment. “What’d they think of your ex?”
I almost laughed because I hadn’t heard him correctly. “What?”
He was serious.
Oh. I coughed, clearing my throat. “Slight detour there. Uh. About my ex?”
He was waiting, his face all serious.
I shook my head, shrugging a shoulder. “I don’t know. My aunts hated him at first sight. They always hated him, but I’m ride-or-die. Unfortunately.” I bulged my eyes out at him. “Never wanted to do that literally, but here we are. But, uh. Yeah. My aunts stopped saying things when they realized I wasn’t going to leave him. They never asked about marriage. I think they were hoping what happened would happen. My mom . . . I think my mom hoped for me because she thought I loved him.”
“You didn’t?”
Didn’t I?
I loved Beck . . .
Of course I loved him, but being in love with him—I couldn’t think about that. Not now. I shook my head. “Can we not . . . do this?” I motioned between us. “I don’t open up to you anymore. Remember? You kidnapped me.”
But, right. My family.
I began chewing on the inside of my cheek. “Are they in danger? My family? My cousin?”
“They’ll be monitored and watched, and as long as you stay away, they’ll be safe.” He was warning me, his gaze hard on me.
I gritted my teeth.
This whole thing sucked majorly. “I don’t like this.”
His mouth was so tight. “I’m aware.”
I let out a harsh laugh. He didn’t care, as long as his neck was safe. That’s all he cared about. I was stuck in this situation with another selfish prick. Lovely. “Do you know who put the contract out?”
An emotion flickered in his gaze before he cut it off. “Someone in my family.”
Air caught, trapped in my lungs. What kind of family did that to each other?
A Mafia family, that’s who. The answer came immediately.
That’s the kind of person I was stuck in this entire fucked-up situation with too. A Mafia ex-cop. I rubbed at my forehead, a pounding headache suddenly showed up. “This is such a twisted joke on me. The universe is really laughing at me.” Sick laughter rippled up from my sternum. Sick and twisted, and bitter.
He was shutting down, closing off to me.
“I wasted almost two decades on a piece of shit boyfriend only to get kidnapped by you. You.” I sneered, that bitter laughter morphing into something sounding unhinged. “A Mafia ex-cop who’s in the middle of an identity crisis. Who are you? Really? Are you a cop or are you Mafia? Maybe you need to pick a fucking lane. Arrest people. Kill people. I don’t care. Just do something.”
His jaw kept getting harder and harder the more I spoke.
I exploded, my fury refusing to be repressed anymore. “Sorry, but I’m kinda for you just killing people if that gets us the best result. I want my life back!”
I hadn’t realized I started to stand as I was beginning to yell, but as I started across the room to him, he shoved up and caught me, his hands clamping down on my hips.
I officially lost my shit when he did that.
Wrong fucking move, dude.
Chapter Fourteen
Sawyer
“Sawyer—”
I didn’t realize I was across the room, with a hand up in the air, as if I was going to strike him until an ugly look came over Jake’s face. He was up in my face, forcing me backward, but if anything, that unleashed more of my fury.