Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
She doesn’t speak because Callan pushes away from the building, anger weighing the air around him as he gets closer to us.
“Callan?” Zoe asks.
I kind of step out of the way so they can talk… or fight. They need time alone. Unfortunately, there’s really nowhere for me to go, so I just try to make myself small and let them have their moment.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Callan growls. My body jerks in reaction. I’ve never seen him like this, and I’m instantly concerned for Zoe. I start to go to her, but she takes a step back and watches for Callan’s next move. I just wait to see if she needs me.
“I could say the same thing to you,” she snaps, almost completely masking her pain.
I may need her to give me lessons if I ever speak to Niko again. I’m starting to think that will never happen. I’ve tried to call my father a couple of times this week, but it goes to his voicemail. That’s not completely unheard of if he’s deep in meetings with Antonio. Still, the silence is starting to get too much for me to handle. If he doesn’t answer this evening, I’m going to break down and call Antonio.
“Shut it, Zoe. You’ll listen and not speak. I’m not in the mood.”
Callan reminds me of Niko when he talks like that. I almost smile, but the pain is too great.
“Well, I’m not in the mood either and you can just go fuck yourself. Emilia and I are going into our room to have supper. We have plans for later.”
Callan motions in front of him. I look back to see two men in dark suits get out of a large SUV and start walking toward us. One looks vaguely familiar. I think he is part of Niko’s security team. I guess Callan has availability to them, too.
“Take Zoe and get her belongings out of this damn room. Take her back to my house. Do not let her out of your sight.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Zoe screeches. “I’m not going back to your place.”
I gasp as Callan quickly goes to Zoe and wraps his hand around her neck.
“Zoe, I haven’t slept in a week. My world has exploded around me, and I have way too much on my fucking plate for you to tempt me right now. You need to hold your fucking tongue because although I like the way you challenge me, now is not the time,” Callan warns. “You walked out on me, disappeared just when I needed you the most and I’ve had it!”
“I don’t give a damn. No one plays me for a fool and—”
Callan stops Zoe from saying anything else and I drop my gaze down. Something is bothering me. Callan said his world exploded. He’s in Niko’s SUV—or at least one that looks like it and the security team is definitely Niko’s.
What is going on?
“Do as I ordered,” Callan thunders.
“But Emilia—”
“Niko needs Emilia and trust me, Zoe, she’s a lot safer with him than you are with me right now.”
I look up at the mention of Niko’s name. The alarm inside of me is building now. My gaze locks on Callan as I do my best to bite down the panic. He takes my hand and gruffly says, “Let’s go.”
“Callan, what’s wrong?”
“We will talk in the car,” Callan tells me, his voice going softer. “I have some things to talk over with you.”
His words and the tone he uses do nothing to allay my fears.
CHAPTER 33
Emilia
Something is wrong. I feel it in the way I’m being rushed into a limo. Darkness seems to hang heavy in the air. It doesn’t help to discover Vic inside. I know Vic is supposed to be with Niko. Neither one of them will meet my gaze. I feel like a petulant child that just got caught sneaking off, but instead of them giving me a lecture about being gone and unsafe, they are quiet.
Too quiet.
At least it is until panic begins to fill me. My heart starts to frantically beat against my chest. My pulse drowns out everything else as I hear my blood roaring in my ears. My stomach is churning. I feel like my breath is frozen in my throat, choking me instead of giving life. This is beyond them being upset that Zoe and I were gone.
Hell, Niko knew, and he could have called, but he didn’t. No one did.
That thought chills me to my core. No. One. Has. Called. The thought plays on repeat in my mind until I finally ask a question that I’m afraid to have answered.
“Vic? Where’s my father? Where’s Niko?” I ask, my voice quaking.
He turns to me, taking my hands in his. Callan is sitting across from us as he leans forward. “Emilia, there’s been an accident—”