Page 22 of Billionaire Bodyguard

What reason did I have to shut up and take it? My sister, maybe. But she had Booker. And I… I was alone again. And apparently a pawn. Again.

And again and again and again.Againwas the story of my pathetic life.

“Were you the one who shot at the car earlier?” I asked. “Because if you were, you’re a pretty shitty shot. I could probably make it to the door before you hit me.”

“Shut up.”

I rolled my eyes at him and crossed my arms, looking away. “So what’s your end game here. Kill me? You think Adler will care? He doesn’t care about me. I’m just his job. One failed assignment isn’t going to exact the revenge you think it will. I’m nothing to him.” I lifted my chin, hoping it didn’t quiver. “You might as well get it over with, then come up with a new plan.”

“I told you to shut up.”

“And I told you, I don’t care what you say,” I snapped back. Okay, maybe, I hadn’t said that, but it still applied.

He stared at me, his green eyes flashing as he probably considered gagging me. Shaking his head, he spouted off something in another language then turned away. Immediately, he turned back and pointed at me with his pistol. “Don’t move.”

I held up my hands. “Nowhere to go.”

Picking at a fingernail, I considered my options. I didn’t have any other than waiting this out. My stomach growled.

“So how long do you think this will be?” I asked. “My handlers are so picky about how often I eat.” Not a lie. Since the night of the club shooting, Adler had put me on an meal schedule he personally oversaw. “Apparently, I get hangry or something.”

He pulled out his phone that looked like some sort of walkie-talkie cell. “Bring the bitch a box of granola bars and some water when you come back,” he snapped into it before glaring at me. “Happy?”

“That was rude. You don’t even know me.”

“Thankfully,” he muttered.

I fought back my smirk at the exhilaration that went through me. Winning. I might die within the hour, but in my last minutes, I’d finally found my power. And I was stronger than I thought. I was also pissed and tired of being used, whether as a pawn or a convenience or a momentary distraction.

I startled when I caught a movement on the other side of the front door, ten feet from me. The thing lolled on a single hinge, not shutting completely, which gave me a good look at the occupants of the hallway outside. My eyes went wide when I realizedwhoit was.

I glanced back at Coval. He wassotoast, no match for the irate man outside.

Neither was I, for that matter. Coval wasn’t the only one in trouble.

“This isn’t my first rodeo getting kidnapped, you know? And as far as kidnappings go, you’re pretty shitty at it. Man… Bad at shooting. Bad at kidnapping. Poor guy. You should probably try another line of work,” I said to distract him. “You didn’t even grab the right person. No one cares about me. You might as well shoot me now.”

Twelve

Adler

My blood ran cold when I heard Linzey tell Coval that he might as well shoot her. What the hell was she thinking? When I got my hands on her, she was so getting a spanking. I didn’t give a shit how mad she was at me. I was already pissed that she ran out of the safe house—though fuck, Coval must have had a tail on the car. He’d been right there to nab her.

Everything about this was a fubar—except Linzey’s tracker. That worked, and it was the only thing saving my sanity at the moment.

“You got any food in this place?” I heard Linzey ask. “I think my blood sugar’s getting low. Not sure I’ll make it until Igor gets back with the food.”

Coval’s accomplice, whose name wasn’t Igor, wouldn’t be coming back at all. He was in the back of a van right now and would be on his way to interrogation as soon as we took down his boss. The other three were in the wind, but without Coval, they weren’t much of a threat to me, the Kingdom of Zenderland or its royal family, including Booker. Not that Ghost’s team wouldn’t go after them.

“Deus…” Coval swore through his teeth, and I glanced over at the men with me as Linzey’s kidnapper stomped into the kitchen. The plan was for them to grab him while I freed Linzey.

I pulled down my mask, and stepped back as one of the team took my place. He edged open the door, ready with a smokegrenade canister. I cringed at the loudscreechfrom the single hinge, but the canister shot across the apartment, clattering across the counter before Coval even had a chance to spin around. We flooded into the apartment.

I grabbed Linzey and ran outside while the others converged on her kidnapper, a man considered a terrorist after masterminding the explosives at her building. And kidnapping and terrorism were only two of his crimes. As long as he was neutralized and my woman was safe, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about the man.

“Adler! Oh my God, Adler!” she cried, her arms going around me in the hallway. I didn’t speak, didn’t stop moving until we were safely out on the sidewalk in the fresh air and away from the smoke filling the abandoned structure.

“You are in so much trouble, little girl,” I growled, shoving off my mask and crushing her to me.

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