Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
The other man glanced at Elizabeth, then back at Flint, his expression torn between rage and fear.
“You’ll be on the run for the rest of your life if you kill me now,” Flint said quietly. “This is the only chance for both of us to end it.”
Dantes stared at him for what felt like an eternity, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths. Finally, he reached for the phone, his fingers fumbling as he unlocked it.
“You better fucking be telling the truth...”
True Love's Lick
THEY COVER OUR EYES and shove us out of the van. My knees crash into the icy ground, the cold piercing me like a blade. The snow stings my palms, and the sharp air burns my lungs with every breath. Around me, the wind howls like a creature of the night, but even that can’t drown out the frantic hammering of my heart.
I start counting to sixty as they ordered, my voice trembling.
“One...two...three...”
The crunch of tires grinding against snow echoes in the distance. They’re speeding away, leaving us unharmed. Just as they promised.
By the time I reach thirty-eight, the sound of the van fades into silence. The wind dies down, leaving only my broken voice to shatter the eerie stillness.
I know it’s over.
I know we've been saved.
But my body doesn’t seem to believe it. My hands won't stop shaking, and my tears keep falling.
Hands pull me up, gentle but firm, and the blindfold slips away. The taut lines of Flint’s handsome face come into focus, his violet eyes raw and unguarded.
“I’m sorry,” he says hoarsely. “This should never have—”
I cup his face with trembling hands, and the words I promised myself I’d say come tumbling out.
“I l-love you.”
His eyes close, his jaw tightening. “I don’t deserve you,” he whispers. “But I promise—”
A wet, sloppy sound interrupts him, his words cut short by the sloppy lick of true love.
“What the—”
Flint barely gets the words out before eighty pounds of boundless canine energy tackles him to the icy ground.
Sunlight barks nonstop, tail wagging furiously. Is he thanking Flint for rescuing him...or is he holding a grudge after being stabbed—-oh, good, it's the first.
I'm absolutely sure of it, with how my baby's licking Flint's face nonstop, and all I can do is laugh as Flint shoots me an exasperated look.
How long is this going to last, his violet eyes seem to ask.
I lift my shoulders in a helpless shrug. Forever, maybe?
His gaze narrows. You're having fun seeing me attacked like this, aren't you?
I look at him chidingly. He's just being affectionate—-oh!
Flint effectively distracts my baby by taking off one of his shoes and throwing it in the distance.
"Fetch, boy."
Sunlight has barely loped off when Flint yanks me down, and I land on top of his chest with a gasp.
"You—-"
Uh...oh.
"—-really are an angel, aren't you?"
Oh, Flint.
The gentleness in which he runs his knuckles down my cheek makes me cry anew.
"I don't deserve you," he whispers. "I don't think I ever will. But if you'll give me a chance—-"
"Y-You know I w-will," I say between sniffling back tears.
"I love you, Elizabeth."
"I love you, too..."
His expression turns guarded. "Why do I have a feeling there's a but coming?"
"I...just want to ask."
"What is it?"
"What exactly does 'Culo' mean anyway?"
Epilogue
MEMORIES stream into my mind as I cast one last look around our apartment. This has been our home for over half a year, and so much has happened in that short span of time.
Flint quit his job at the FBI and now works freelance. I’m still not entirely sure what his current job entails, but I trust him when he says his work is on a need-to-know basis.
Sunlight is still with us (naturally!), but now he’s a big brother to Chico, a three-year-old Dachshund who also suffered a not-so-good life with his first owner. It makes me sad every time I remember the patches of burnt skin that marred his body when he first came to us. But that’s all gone now, and just like Chico and Sunlight, Flint and I don’t allow our hearts to be poisoned by bitterness and grudges.
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Forgive as you have been forgiven.
Because vengeance is the Lord’s, and Miguel Dantes’ murder in the Cayman Islands two months ago is proof of this.
Former associates of Flint were the ones who broke the news to us, but the knowledge only made my heart heavy. Even Flint admitted reluctantly that the other man’s death gave him no pleasure.
My heart still isn’t soft like yours, angel.
But that night changed us.
And because every day of our lives feels undeserved...
I’m just hoping he had a chance to repent.
Miguel’s existence has always been like a shadow hanging over our lives, and while it pains me a little to admit this, his death has freed me from my secret fears. I no longer suffer from nightmares of Sunlight being abducted anew.