Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Ivan got to his feet. “I’m going to locate our little friend. I’ll be in touch.”
“I can help,” Victor said.
“You can, by making things right with your wife, and accepting your fate. I have found you a woman, and if you actually allowed yourself to feel, you would see she is a good woman.”
“You’re not a fucking matchmaker, Ivan.”
He held up four fingers. “I have four men who will say otherwise. They all had arranged marriages, and guess what, it has all worked out swimmingly. Stop being an asshole and stop fighting this. You’re married. Accept it, and stop being a fucking baby.”
With that, Ivan left the room.
I didn’t like this.
Moving to my office window, I looked out over the darkness. The lights were glowing, and I couldn’t get over the fact someone had broken through my defenses, which just wasn’t possible. I closed my office curtains, fired up my computer, and typed in the code to gain access. I changed this every week to keep everything secure. I did not trust easily, and that was not going to start now.
I’d seen men change allies faster than women changed their underwear. Some men were happy to go in the easiest direction, but that didn’t make it the right choice. They would always change sides depending on who was winning. Some of the men who followed Ivan had once been part of the old rule. I had no doubt some of those men would kill Ivan if given the chance.
Ivan was always one step ahead of the game.
I brought up the security cameras as well as the log for them. Checking through the list of names, I saw my usual men, but I noticed there was a thirty-minute break, when one of the men left the office and locked the room.
This made me curious. According to my records, the security cameras were changed or altered during a time when no one was inside the room, however, according to my log records, someone gained access to the room.
I loved security, and as I brought up the main camera outside the security room, I pressed the button to speed up the timer to exactly when it would happen. I saw Felix leave the room, and it was down in the log book. However, less than five minutes later, a woman, a maid I did not recognize, snuck down the hall. Her hand shook, and she had a key, as well as the code to get in.
I had my suspect.
****
Freya
The Butcher cleared her throat and I turned to see her in the doorway of my sewing room. I couldn’t go into my bedroom. It was ruined.
“Hey,” The Butcher said.
“Hey.”
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m cleaning my fabric stash and putting it into neat piles. I just don’t know if I should go by color, which will mix the base cloths.” I turned toward The Butcher to see her expression was blank.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sorry. I assume everyone understands sewing terms. So, as an example, I’ve got a purple cotton jersey here, and it’s a plain, and I’ve got a purple denim here, and this is a woven. There is no stretch in this one. Two completely different fabric bases, but the same color. So far, I have them in cloth order. All my cotton jerseys are in one cubbyhole, the other has denim. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, it does.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You know your way around a fabric and haberdashery. I know my way around knives, guns, ammo, and how to get out of a sticky situation using my thumbs.” She held her thumbs up.
This did make me frown. “Do I want to know?”
She shrugged. “You tell me.” She held her thumbs up and gave them a wriggle.
“I do,” I said, and shook my head. “Do I?”
The Butcher laughed. “I’ve been in a tough spot, and I’ve not been able to get out of it, and I’ve shoved my thumbs into men’s eyes.”
This made my own eyes go wide. “You’re kidding?”
“No, trust me, it makes them let go. You either shove your thumbs into their eyes until you blind them, or you grab their dick and keep pulling that sucker. Trust me, they are precious about their dick.”
I think I felt sick.
“You see, you know fabric, and I know how to protect myself.” The Butcher shrugged.
Thinking of it like that, she had the better role. “Must be nice,” I said.
“What?”
“Protecting yourself.”
The Butcher pressed her lips together. “I don’t know. It makes for a lot of enemies. I have a lot of them, and trust me, they will come for me. I’m going to die one day.”
I didn’t like this. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that. It’s not nice.”
“It’s the truth. We’re all going to die, but the way I’ve lived my life, I know it’s coming for me, and trust me, when that time happens, it’s not going to be pretty.”