Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Another thought hits me. Jaeger knows where Margot is. He could threaten her and the kids or hold them over my head as blackmail to make me return.
I reject the thought as soon as I have it. Jaeger will never hurt her or the kids. I don’t know him well, but I know that.
He has an odd sense of honor for a murdering criminal.
But I’m afraid Honey is right. Jaeger might want to keep me. And nothing will stop him.
There are murmurs in the hallway outside the door, and I figure I’ve been in here long enough.
I grab the chair rail and use it to support my slow limp to the door. Once I’m there, I lean on the handle, shifting my weight, and open it.
There’s a dark figure in the hall. I startle back until the low light gleams on a golden head.
“Jaeger?” All I can see of him is a tattooed hand and a skull ring.
When the figure steps into the light, I realize it’s not Jaeger at all.
The man looks like Jaeger, with the same leonine head and stormy blue eyes. His face is identical, and even the tattoos are similar. But he’s not the same. This isn’t the man I ran from in the forest or the one I snuggled with last night.
No, this man looks down on me like I’m a bug he’s about to squash. Jaeger has never looked at me like this.
“Who are you?” My question dies on my lips when he steps forward. A big hand, covered to the knuckle with a spiderweb tattoo, cups my jaw. He turns my face this way and that.
A jolt of fear runs through me at his callous touch. I freeze like a rabbit in a trap.
Before I collect myself to scream or push him away, he releases me and steps back, a sneer twisting his face.
“So, little red,” he says. “You’re the one who’s trapped my brother.”
8
Elodie
I gape at the blond. He looks so much like his brother, it’s disconcerting. Identical twins. Like Jaeger, he’s scarily hot. But while Jaeger inspires comfort and lust, this man, with the same face, only makes me feel terror. I’m shaking as I lean against the wall outside the bathroom.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” He’s standing too close. Jaeger’s up in my space all the time, but I’ve gotten used to it. I even long for it, whereas my body reads this guy as a pure, unadulterated threat. We’re in a dark hallway where only fellow members of Fraternitas will hear a cry for help.
“Hmm?” Jaeger’s brother prompts.
“I didn’t.” I squeak. Me, trap Jaeger? More like the other way around. But how can I explain that to him? Fear is twisting my stomach so much I want to puke.
He lifts a hand, and I cringe, only for him to stroke the gold stubble on his chin. His skull ring sits prominently on his middle finger. The shadows in the eye sockets go down forever.
“Kaiser.” Jaeger appears at the end of the hall.
I can’t stop the forceful flood of relief at the sight of him loping toward me. He lifts me into his arms, and I cling to him. Kaiser glares at me, but I’m safe in his brother’s arms. I have the feeling that the only reason he hasn’t snapped my neck and left me for dead is because Jaeger is here. It makes me grip Jaeger tighter.
“This is Elodie,” Jaeger says. “Elodie, this is my brother, Kaiser.”
Kaiser and I say nothing to each other.
“She should not be here,” Kaiser tells Jaeger while still staring at me like he hopes his gaze will incinerate me. I don’t even try to stare him down. A rabbit can’t stare down a wolf.
“She’s with me.”
Kaiser transfers his glare to his brother. There’s another intense staring match. This time, the opponents are equally matched. I can only hope the twin holding me wins.
“She belongs here,” Jaeger says, and it unsettles me. I feel like he’s talking about more than us having lunch here this one time.
“We’ll see,” Kaiser says and walks away. His shadow stretches down the corridor. At the end, he slams a door.
Well, that’s not ominous at all.
“Are you all right?”
I clutch him harder. I’ve never been the intense object of hate of someone I’ve just met.
“It’s all right. Kaiser would never hurt you.”
I can’t be so sure.
Back at the booth, our table is full of food. I sit and wring my hands as Jaeger inhales a steak the size of a dinner plate.
“You’re not eating.” He frowns and pushes a dish of mashed potatoes my way.
I shrug.
“Here.” He leans down and grabs a black briefcase, sliding it across the table. “This will make you feel better.”
I open it, half expecting to see plastic baggies filled with tempting little pills. Instead, it’s stacks and stacks of hundred-dollar bills.