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 felt a hand go to her chest as she heard the shot in her memory. Aunt Eve. Aunt Eve had been with Kala. She’d tried to protect her and Lena shot her. Shot her in the chest. Devi watched her go down and knew…
Screaming. She could hear her cousin screaming in pain, and there was nothing she could do about it. When they brought her back, Kala had been paralyzed and then Lena had been there again and it was Devi’s turn to protect her cousin.
She failed.
“Devi? Sweetness, what’s going on? You’re safe.” Zach’s words penetrated the horror movie playing through her brain. She could feel the way they tossed her around. How they’d treated Kala like she was a fucking doll. They tossed them into the plane like cargo, and she’d held onto her cousin’s unconscious body so she didn’t roll around. She’d lain there holding on and praying that Zach would find them. That she wouldn’t lose Kala this way, wouldn’t die without seeing him again.
His arms were around her, and she was sitting on his lap in the same cozy chair Lacey had been in when she woke up. Just for a second, she breathed him in, let his familiar scent comfort her.
“Kala?”
She felt him kiss the top of her head. “She’s fine. Cooper got her out and I got you out. From what I can tell she’s on her way back to Dallas with the rest of the team.”
“My Aunt Eve…she…she…”
He stroked her hair. “Is alive and well. She’s going to pull through. Everyone is alive, Devi. Well, Lena isn’t. Kala took care of her. Tell me what he did to you. Lacey and I both looked you over and we didn’t see any bruising except around your wrists. But we both know he doesn’t have to leave scars to hurt you.”
Oh, she felt pretty scarred. It was time to be an adult and not a clinging child. She had to remember that all this affection was for show. It was to trick her and make her fall further for him. Now he had even more reasons to draw her in. He was AWOL. Her uncle might be able to handle the situation if she cried prettily and begged him to take care of the man she loved.
And she did. But that love didn’t go both ways, and she wasn’t going to let herself be used. She sat up.
“Hey, go slow. You almost passed out.” His arm tightened around her waist as though he was afraid to let her go. “Just rest for a minute. The sedative she gave you is probably making you woozy.”
“Reliving the torture I went through is making me woozy, Zach. Please let me up. I don’t want to be here.”
He took a long breath and moved his arms so she was free. “I know, sweetness, and that is one hundred percent my fault. I should have come after you the minute Huisman made his play. I shouldn’t have left you behind.”
Her head hurt and she wanted to cry. Was crying, but in an inactive way. She needed a big sob fest to get rid of the anxiety anvil that sat on her chest. She swiped at the tears and tried to shove the turmoil down deep as she slid off his lap and forced herself to stand on her own two feet. “Are you saying you wish you kidnapped me earlier?”
He had the grace to wince. “That sounds worse than I meant it. I’m just saying I didn’t handle this well, Devi. I should have come to you. I thought it was better to leave you with your family. I thought they could protect you. Now I’m going to do the job, but I should have come to you and told you the truth.”
“About how you want to marry a Taggart and you weren’t going to let a little thing like being a criminal and betraying your team stop you?” Anger was far easier to deal with than the horrible vulnerable feeling she’d gone through.
She was weak. She was lesser. No one wanted to hire her even after all the money her family put into her college. She had been kidnapped. Twice. Neither time was the actual kidnapping about her. One had been to force Daisy O’Donnell out into the open, and the other she was leverage against her brilliant, deadly cousin.
He went still, his eyes pinning her. “That is not true.”
“So you didn’t have a thing for Tasha?” It was stupid that she was stuck on this. He betrayed everyone. Put his whole team in danger, and she didn’t really know why but this was what she pushed at him.
Because once again she was small and insignificant, with the exception of her family name.
“I had a kid-like crush on her in the beginning.” He seemed to think through every word. “I never touched her. Never once made a move on her.”