Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Her mind went straight to sharks. Either sharks or alligators or crocodiles, maybe even octopus, but then she was going through all the sea and water monster movies she’d seen.
This was not good. Not because of the risk of a shark, but did they attack through wood? Crap, this was not helping her to stay calm.
“Ah, I see you’re awake.”
She turned to look in the direction of the voice, and the door had opened up, and in came a man. Not one she recognized. He had blonde hair to his shoulders. Like his buddy, he was dressed all in black, only his throat wasn’t cut and he wasn’t hanging upside down.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He chuckled. “I’m surprised you don’t know, being Knox’s PA and all that. I thought the rumors were false, but then I did a little digging and I realized the best way to Knox is through you.”
“You’re the guy who attacked the house?”
“Actually, I am and I’m not. I did pay a couple of guys to attack the house, but I just wanted them to bring me Knox. That man has cost me a fortune, the little pest he is.”
Ava looked at him, and he wasn’t anyone she recognized.
“You’re making a big mistake.”
“You think I am?” he asked, laughing. “Trust me, Knox doesn’t know who he is dealing with.”
Ava looked at him. “This your place?”
He didn’t answer.
“Let me guess, you have an issue with Knox because he took away your funding?” She started to fill in the blanks. “You were fucking Blondie’s wife, weren’t you?”
He glared at her.
“Yeah, that’s your problem. You saw a little meal ticket in the gold-digging bitch, and because Knox made sure she was put behind bars for nearly killing her husband, you want a little payback.”
“Shut your fucking mouth.”
Ava gritted her teeth as he struck. It was an open palm slap this time, but it still smarted. She hated being punched in the fucking face. It had been a long time since she last got hit.
“You don’t want to talk?” Ava asked.
When she was a kid, she would not have talked back. She’d have done everything she could to be invisible.
Ava knew she had to give Knox time. He had to remember the GPS he installed in her. Completely harmless, at least to her, but hopefully, if he got that thing working, it would save her life. This was not going to end well. Knox needed to make it here.
“You’ve got a smart mouth on you, don’t you?”
“I flunked high school. I’m not smart,” Ava said.
She wasn’t about to tell him that Knox was already ten steps ahead of him.
He started to laugh. “You’ve got that right, you decided to work for Knox, and trust me, that isn’t smart.”
She tilted her head to the side. It irritated her that he would insult her man. Knox belonged to her. The smart thing would be to keep her mouth shut and just let the time slip away.
“So, tell me, if Knox isn’t smart, and he didn’t rely on a woman’s pussy to get where he is, what does that make you? Because, you, I’ve never heard of,” she said.
In the back of her mind, she was screaming at herself to just shut up. Ava was not known for making her life easier. She had made a few bad decisions. Yet, they had also led to great ones. Sure, getting drugged at a bar and being kidnapped by a rapist and serial killer were not her finer moments. However, looking at the glass half full, without that, she would never have met Knox—the one and only man that had saved her life. The man she loved more than anything in the world. The same man she still hadn’t told how she felt, which she did regret.
He slapped her three times. She felt the sting of her lip, and she didn’t need to look down to know that it was split. Shit.
“You think you’re so smart. I wonder what Knox will think when I gut you and feed your entrails to the fishes.”
“Go ahead, you wouldn’t make it out alive,” she said. “You can kill me, but that is just signing your life away.”
“You’re sure?” he asked, coming in closer and crouching down in front of her.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with. You’ve kidnapped me for petty revenge, because he took away your meal ticket. Knox is the real deal.” She pointed her head toward the dead man. “You think that is supposed to scare me? I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse, and I’ve watched him do even more to a man who only intended to do me harm. I bet you’ve bruised me, and these chains are cutting into my body, so I know there is going to be more damage.”