Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Suddenly, the door behind me slams open again.
“What do you think you’re doing?” a man roars.
I shriek and hurry to push it open, but just as I’ve made a small opening, someone wraps his muscular arms around my body and whisks me away.
“Let go of me!” I yell, punching and kicking as best as I can, but these men seem impervious to pain.
“Stay quiet,” the man says, hauling me back into the same room I was in moments ago. I may not be able to see, but I have a clear memory of the path I took. And not only that, but this room carries that same god-awful smell as the one before. Like someone sprayed way too much cologne.
Suddenly, a cold, sharp thing presses against my neck. “Don’t move or speak unless told. Do you understand?”
I swallow and nod.
The blade is removed, and the hood is ripped off my head.
I struggle to take a breath with the bright light pointed at my face from the desk behind which a man watches me.
“So you’re Blom’s daughter?”
I nod.
“Speak up, girl,” the man says.
“Yes,” I say, and my lips part again to ask why he’d bring me here and what he wants with me, but then I remember the words of the man who took me back into this room, and I don’t want to get cut into pieces.
So I shut up and listen.
“What’s your name?”
“Aurora,” I reply.
“Aurora … such a beautiful name,” he muses, licking his lips profusely. “I’m surprised he didn’t offer to trade you.”
Bile rises in my throat.
“Wh-Who are you?” I mutter.
The man smiles. Viciously. “My name is Lex De Vos.”
Lex De Vos. Why does it sound so familiar yet—
Wait. I remember. My father once mentioned his name when he was talking about a shipment and a large sum of money.
“Where is your father?” His stern voice interrupts my train of thought.
Lex must be responsible for the attack on our house. For killing all of my father’s guards and his guests.
My whole body begins to shake. “I don’t know.”
Lex snorts. “Of course you don’t.”
My eyes squint from the light. “I don’t, I swear. I don’t know where he is.”
He smacks his flat hand on the table. “DON’T LIE TO ME!”
I jolt from the sudden outburst. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. I’m telling you the truth.”
“But you were there,” he says through gritted teeth.
“Yes, I was home. I was playing the piano,” I say, word-vomiting my way through this conversation to stay alive. “I don’t know what happened, but suddenly, there was smoke and gunfire all around, and then some giant man came in to try to kill my papa, and I tried to shoot him, so he came after me, and then Papa vanished, and this guy took me to—”
“ENOUGH!”
I shut up immediately.
“I don’t need your life story. I need your father. Now. And if you won’t tell me where he is …”
I shake my head. “Please, I don’t want to die.”
The light in front of me is lowered. “You think I care what you want?” Lex growls. “My dog brought you here, so what should I do with you now? Feed you to him?”
My eyes widen, and I gasp in shock.
Lex laughs maniacally. “What a joke. I tell him to bring a head, and he brings me a pussy instead.” He shakes his head. “Useless.”
“My father will come to rescue me,” I blurt out in anger.
A guard behind me immediately rushes toward me with the knife he just threatened me with, and I brace for defense, but then the man in front of me holds up his hand and the guard stops.
Lex’s eyebrows rise in a taunting manner. “You think so?”
I swallow away the lump in my throat as he taps his fingers onto the desk.
“I think he’s a coward who ran with his tail between his legs and would rather leave behind everything he owns than come back and risk his pitiful fucking life.”
Teeth clenched, I fight the tears.
“Oh, I know what your father is like, Aurora.”
“You know nothing about my family,” I say through gritted teeth.
He snorts again. “We’ll see about that.” He throws a look at the guard. “I’ve heard enough. Put her in the cell. Maybe she’ll learn a thing or two about real life outside those fucking spray-painted gold walls of that fucker’s house.”
My eyes widen.
What cell? Where? How long?
“No, I didn’t do anything,” I sputter.
Lex smiles wickedly, and he caresses his beard. “You don’t need to do anything, Aurora. Just exist, and your father will come crawling back to me to settle this debt once and for all.”
Before I can say anything, the guard already has his hands around my waist. “Don’t touch me!” I shriek as he throws me over his shoulder. “Let go of me!”
But my cries fall on deaf ears as he carries me out of the room and down the hallway, where there’s a heavily locked door. “Got another one.”