Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
She kissed him again and then watched him walk off.
It would be okay. A week or two and he would be back and they would move him into Coop’s and get him a car and start their lives.
She stood there until the plane took off, a weird feeling of anxiety in her gut.
She shook it off because it would all be okay.
Chapter Four
It was blown to hell, and Zach had no idea how it had gone so fucking wrong.
Twenty-four hours before he was sneaking Facetimes with his girlfriend from the tiny room in the safe house in Montreal he shared with his brother and her brother. TJ had calmed down after a beer and various snacks and Zach having a long discussion with him about everything he adored about Devi.
And now he was covered in blood and in Toronto and his whole team was going to know about how he betrayed them.
He glanced back at the big mansion Huisman had brought him and Tristan to. Kala and Carys and Tris were still in that house, and his gut twisted at the thought of leaving them there, but it was clear to him that Huisman knew exactly who he was, who his mother was, and had some dated knowledge of how to get to him.
He hadn’t meant to kidnap Kala. Huisman had been going for Tasha. Carys to get Tristan to talk. Tasha for Zach. He meant to torture the women so the men would talk. He hadn’t been happy his henchmen had mistaken Kala for her sister.
They’d picked up him and Tristan in the suite Tris, Aidan, and Carys were staying in. They’d been cleaning it out when Huisman’s men showed up, drugged them, and dragged them to Toronto.
If only Huisman had kidnapped him before he’d fucked everything up with a few casual words.
You couldn’t know you were going to walk in and find The Jester face down on the floor, man. You did what you had to do.
The trouble was by the time Zach had joined Tristan, The Jester had been on his back. The only one who could have known how he started face down was the man who’d actually killed him. Zach.
When they’d gotten to the Toronto house, Huisman had explained that he hadn’t truly wanted Tristan at all. He’d really wanted to talk to Zach.
Because he knew. He knew who Zach’s mother was, and if he was allowed to bring Shannon Reed in, the world would burn in ways he didn’t want to imagine.
Huisman had tried to bring in Tasha Taggart because he had intelligence that stated Zach Reed was in love with her. It was outdated intelligence but at one time he’d thought he was.
If Huisman knew about Devi…
He forced himself to walk around the backside of the house toward what he hoped would be an alley that led away from the garage. The men assigned to take him to what Huisman called a remote site had hauled him into that garage. He’d offered to go quietly if Huisman let everyone else go.
The bastard hadn’t, and Zach had done what he had to.
Now he needed to find a fucking cell phone. He needed to call Lacey and get out of the country.
There would be no going back to the States for him. No going back to Devi.
She was going to hate him.
He looked down at the blood on his hands. She would be right to do it.
We’ll come for you, brother. Tristan had said the words to him as he’d been hauled back toward the garage.
He’d replied the only way he could. Tell Devi…fuck…tell her I’m so fucking sorry. And Coop…just tell them all I’m sorry.
If his team came for him, it would be to put him in some isolation room and question him. Even if he told them everything at this point, he was still looking at jail, and all that would do was leave his mother at Huisman’s mercy. And the world to the weapons she could build. He wished he believed his mother would fight Huisman, but he was realistic. She’d often chosen the path that made her more comfortable.
There was no way out. Not if he wanted to protect the people he loved.
He carefully eased around the cameras. There were some clear blind spots, and he used them. He had a few problems to solve—the handcuffs that dangled from his left wrist, the fact that he had no ID and no phone—none of them compared to the terror he had if Huisman figured out his connection to Devi Taggart.
His girl. His only girl. Oh, he’d had girlfriends before but not the way Devi was. She fit with him.
And she would never speak to him again.
It probably didn’t matter since he was going to die or get shoved into prison somewhere. He might end up underneath whatever fucking pool an MT employee was building this week.