Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
I could’ve never guessed it would come my way under such peculiar circumstances, either. Shut in from a snowstorm, meeting a man trying to escape his own past, only to find myself training a scope on the black, hulking monstrosity of a car heading my way.
Gotta love life’s little treasures, even if they aren’t always easy to grab.
“Okay,” I draw a long breath and exhale it into a thin white mist. “Time to be brave.”
Bang!
The first shot rings out, and birds instantly squawk overhead as they rush to fly off to safety.
Bang!
I fire a second in case I missed my target with the first. But I’ve always been a pretty good shot, and Salvatore’s abductors start swerving ahead, coming to a sudden stop when their vehicle smashes into one of the huge blue spruce trees on my side of the road.
My victory is short-lived as three of the four men who escorted Salvatore into the car emerge from the front seat. They use their doors as cover, aiming the barrels of their assault rifles in my direction, and open fire without hesitation.
Had I been braver, I’d have aimed for the driver while the second would be focused on the guy next to him. But shooting a deer for Sunday lunch and providing food to my community is a far reach from taking a human life.
But like I said, it’s time to be brave. I duck back into the tree line and get into my car.
I’ve done all I can to help Salvatore; the rest is for him to figure out.
I just hope I’ve done enough.
10
SALVATORE
If there was ever a doubt in my mind that Silver wasn’t the perfect woman for me, it’s gone now. She had every opportunity to vanish, save herself, and find security in the comfort of my home and the company of my people. Yet, she risked it all to ensure I’d still be at her side.
Happiness is an understatement for how my heart swells at the thought. Even as I sit beside one of the men handcuffed, I can’t stop the overwhelming love coursing through my veins.
But we’re not out of the woods yet, literally or figuratively, and it’s time to do what I do best.
“What the fuck?” the guy beside me grumbles while he tries to catch his bearings. He took the hardest blow out of the four, with his face plummeting into the driver’s seat because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
His disorientation gives me an opportunity to throw my bound hands toward the pistol on his hip. He tries to fight me for it, but with blood pouring from his broken nose and misplaced attempts to grab at my arms, I manage to put two bullets in his chest before he can touch me.
After searching his body for a key to my cuffs, I exit the car, half expecting to find a firing squad ready to gun me down. But two of the remaining mercenaries have disappeared into the tree line, with the third close behind.
Didn’t he hear the gunshots? Or is he truly so fucking brazen to believe his colleague would get the jump on me?
Either way, I put a bullet in the back of his head before making my way into the trees and following along them to find the bastards trying to hunt Silver.
“What the fuck’s going on back there, Joey?” my third victim calls out. Big mistake. His voice is what leads me directly to him.
The last two of Harry’s men haven’t made it far. I’m glad to see it, too. It means I can deal with them and get back to Silver long before they have a chance of getting close to her. My only fear is that she has already seen too much and won’t want to continue this charade with me after what I’ve done.
But her safety is far more important than my worries. These men are out for a pound of flesh, and they’ll take it without batting an eye.
“Ah, shit. Let’s get this done quickly. I think something happened to the boys,” he mutters to the merc ahead of him.
“Something?” the fourth scoffs. “The Lion got ‘em. And we’ll be next if we don’t deal with whoever’s at the end of this road.”
Speaking about me like I’m some fairy-tale monster fills me with a deep sense of pride I shouldn’t be this excited about.
“You’re not making it that far,” I say, firing two expertly placed shots into the remaining mercenaries.
It’s no wonder I got to Harry so fucking easily. He’s employing the worst soldiers I’ve ever seen. But their deaths bring with them a deep sense of irrational insecurity.
Somewhere along this road, Silver is waiting for me. Beautiful as the thought is, will my actions scare her away? With adrenaline thumping through my body, it’s a fear I haven’t been able to deal with. Now, as I walk over the last two dead bodies in the only direction she could be, I feel crippled by it.