Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 143728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Garrick? Evangeline didn’t know anyone named Garrick.
“You thought this over before agreeing to the mission when the president asked if it was possible to get her out, didn’t you?”
“I’d be lying if I said no. And before you put a bullet in my head the way I know you want to, I suggest you listen to the rest of my plan before you do.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. Not if you want to keep everyone alive.”
Evangeline laid her head on the wall, wanting to go back downstairs and go to sleep and wake up in her grandmother’s house with Trudy sleeping next to her.
“I’ve given my resignation. My last order was to make you head of the team.”
“You think by making me commander that I’ll keep my mouth shut?”
“No, I know you well enough to know that won’t be the easy way out for me. I made you commander for the simple fact that it benefits me. I’ve been offered a position in Washington, and I have every intention of taking it. There’s only one thing standing in my way.”
“Me.”
“You give yourself too much credit, Hammer. Having a mistress might make me persona non grata at the military functions I’ll be invited to, but as far as the duties I’ll be taking over, it will be swept away. Peyton’s relatives have already washed their hands of her. An unwed mother doesn’t fit in their social circles.”
“They disgust me as much as you do.”
“Believe it or not, I love Peyton.”
“I don’t.”
“I do, and whether you report me or not, I’ll continue to see Peyton.”
“You don’t give a fuck about Peyton or Rae.”
“I’m not going to stand here all night and argue with you about what I do or do not feel about Peyton. Rae may be an unfortunate encumbrance—”
Evangeline started crying when she heard the shuffling of the men fighting.
“If you ever call Rae unfortunate again, I’ll kill you. The only reason you’re still breathing is because Peyton begged me not to kill you when I found her. You’ve got her convinced she loves you, and that if anyone finds out about her, you’ll take Rae from her.”
“I would.”
The mean man was just as awful as her mother. Evangeline felt sorry for Hammer; he wasn’t going to win the fight against the mean man. He was too nice.
“Over my dead body.”
“Don’t you get it? If my plan doesn’t work, none of us will be alive. If you’d listen, you’d have to admit it’s the only chance any of us have to stay alive. If not, you might as well start digging all our graves. The other men on the team might not have known why it was so important for us to get Evangeline out, but Allerton won’t care. They’ll be liabilities to him. Liabilities that he won’t allow to smear his image.”
“You and Allerton have a lot in common.”
“If that were true, we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation, nor would Peyton be an issue. Peyton wouldn’t be breathing. Anyone who comes close to exposing Allerton is dead.”
When Evangeline heard only silence, she started to rise onto her knees to see what they were doing. Before she could, though, the mean man continued talking.
“Evangeline’s sister is with their grandmother. Soleil is furious that her golden child died, and she’s blaming Trudy, saying that Evangeline would still be alive if she hadn’t convinced her to let them leave the island for Christmas. You should have seen the act Trudy put on when her mother told her she would be staying at a hotel with her instead of with the grandmother when she and Jasper arrived in the States.”
“It wasn’t an act. Both girls are terrified of their mother. From the bits and pieces that Evangeline has told me since we’ve been here, Soleil controls every aspect of her children’s lives, as well as those people she’s supposed to be helping. When she can’t, then Soleil gets their father involved. Jasper might come across as a brilliant water engineer, but from the information that Garrick’s been able to leak out, he doesn’t have any conscience about placing certain villages low on the priority list.”
“Trudy had a screaming fit when her parents told her they were about to go back to the island. She kept screaming that she wouldn’t get on a plane again. The grandmother said that Trudy could stay with her until she recovered from the trauma of losing Evangeline and the plane crash. Neither Soleil nor Jasper tried hard to change Trudy’s mind, and they didn’t hide the fact that they blamed her for Evangeline being on the plane.”
Evangeline was glad her sister would be able to stay with their grandmother. Joy filled her at what the mean man was telling Hammer.
Did that mean she would be able to go live with their grandmother as well? She missed her sissy so badly. She had only met their grandmother when they went to her house for Christmas. She wouldn’t mind living with her forever if she could be with her sister. She could buy her more of the jelly in a can.