Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“We should hit the ladies’ room before our food gets here,” Amanda suddenly announced. “Come on, Ambrie.” She stood up, looking at Master almost defiantly, daring him to stop Ambrielle from coming with her.
He wanted to stop her. His fingers shackled her wrist, unseen, beneath the table. Ambrie immediately turned to him, her free palm cupping his cheek. She leaned close, breath to breath. “We’re good. I’m good.”
She wasn’t though. Amanda wasn’t going to talk her into annulling the marriage. That wasn’t Master’s concern. The woman had something else in mind. He put his lips against Ambrie’s ear. “Be safe, princess. Don’t trust her.” He kissed her temple and reluctantly let her go. As he did, his gaze went straight to Lissa and Scarlet. He was counting on them. He couldn’t go with Ambrie into the women’s room, although that wouldn’t stop him if he felt she needed him.
Ambrielle stood, his little fairy princess, dressed in the clothes they’d retrieved from her apartment. She was so damn beautiful, so courageous, his heart ached. Amanda’s gaze dropped to her watch as she followed Ambrie toward the restroom.
Blythe sighed. “I suppose I should go as well.”
“You suppose wrong,” Czar said. “Something isn’t right. If you really need to go, I’ll take you back to the kitchen. You can use the one Alena has for her employees.”
“What do you mean, something isn’t right?” Blythe’s voice turned anxious. “Czar, do you think that horrid woman is here? In the restaurant? You don’t think she’s going to try to hurt me or the children again, do you?”
“I don’t know what the problem is, baby, only that something is off. Until I know what’s wrong, you’re staying in my sight,” he decreed.
Master stood up. There was no staying seated when he was feeling that dark dread building in his gut the way it was. Amanda was up to something. He didn’t bother to explain himself to the others. He’d never done it before, and there was no starting now. He just walked away from the table.
* * *
“Ambrie.” Amanda nearly pounced on her as she washed her hands. “We have to go.” She looked at her watch. “We only have a few minutes. There’s a car waiting for you outside to get you out of here. You’ll be safe.”
Ambrie lifted her gaze to meet Amanda’s in the mirror. “What are talking about, Amanda? What have you done?”
“I know you were forced into marrying that man. I know all about it. Right after your parents were murdered, and you disappeared, I was contacted . . .”
Ambrielle swung around, crossing her arms over her chest. “Stop right there, Amanda. I’ve known you for years. You can’t lie to save your soul. You aren’t saving me, so drop the bullshit. What are you doing? Who contacted you, and what did he say?” She poured steel into her voice.
Amanda’s face crumpled, just as Ambrie knew it would. Her friend burst into tears. “He’s going to kill Adam. He’s got a sniper rifle on him. Somebody sent me an email and told me when I was contacted by you that I was to let them know. When you said to meet you at a restaurant, I was to inform them where it was and the time you would be there.”
“You told them I’d be here tonight?” Ambrielle repeated, more for Lissa and Scarlet’s sake than to memorize what she was told. She knew the two women had entered and gone into the stalls.
“I had to tell them. They said they’d kill Adam. They sent me pictures of him coming and going from his apartment. One was right outside his apartment door. I was so scared for him.” There was a little sob in her voice. “I didn’t know what to do, Ambrie. They were going to kill him. They did say this man took you and that he and his club were responsible for the deaths of your parents. I wanted it to be true. I wanted these other people to be rescuing you.”
“You knew better.” Ambrie wasn’t going to let her off the hook. “No one rescuing me was going to threaten to kill your brother. You were trading my life for his.”
“No!” Amanda wailed. “I was saving you. I was trading that horrible man’s life, Master, the one who took you and killed your parents. He was supposed to die, not you. You were going to be saved, and my brother was going to be saved.”
Ambrielle went very still, the air leaving her lungs in a long rush. For a moment the room spun, and a red haze shimmered behind her eyes. Kir. Master. The only person she had left in the entire world. Her husband. Amanda had just shrieked that she had set her husband up to be killed.