Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
“He didn’t even fuckin’ get the chance to look into his baby girls' eyes,” Kendric murmurs, staring at his hands.
“Gotta believe he’ll get that chance, brother,” I say.
“If he doesn’t?”
He looks to me now.
“Then we make sure she knows him, we make sure she’s safe, we make sure she is always taken care of in the way he would want.”
Kendric looks away. “What the fuck was he thinkin’?”
“He was thinkin’ he wanted to get his baby out. He was thinkin’ he didn’t trust anyone else to do that. He was thinkin’ he owed it to everyone to be the person to go in and get her. He was tryin’ to fix his wrongs.”
“He didn’t have to fuckin’ do that,” he growls.
“Yeah, brother, he did. For himself, he did.”
“And now he might fuckin’ die! So what was it worth?”
I don’t say anything else.
Truth is, nothing I say will make him feel any better.
He’s fucking broken. We all are.
“All we can do is be here, brother,” I say carefully. “That’s all we’ve got left.”
Kendric nods and then goes back to sitting in silence.
Alarick comes out a minute later, his face hard, his body wound up tight. We both stand and walk over.
“How’s he doin’?” I ask.
“I don’t fuckin’ know how he’s alive. He looks defeated. Dead. Broken.”
“We need to get his girl in here,” Kendric rasps. “We need to get her talkin’ to him. She’s the only thing that’ll pull him out of this.”
“You’re right about that,” Alarick agrees. “Give her time to rest, and we’ll get her in here. Do you want to go in there? Not much to see, he’s got fuckin’ tubes comin’ out of him everywhere, and he’s pale as a ghost.”
“No,” I shake my head. “Let’s get the girl.”
“Agreed,” Kendric nods. “The girl.”
Here goes nothing.
“SHE HAS BEEN IN THERE for hours. Have we heard anything yet?” Aviana asks, walking towards me with a tray of coffee in her hands.
Waverly and Mykel come over and take a coffee before sitting back down. We’ve all spoken enough, talked enough, fucking cried enough. Now, we’re just waiting and praying that he’s going to wake up. It has been sixteen hours. The doctor said if it goes past twenty-four and he isn’t awake, the chances of him coming out of this get lower and lower.
We’re watching the clock.
Fuck.
Please wake up, brother.
“Nothin’,” I answer Aviana. “Nothin’ at all.”
“I hope this works,” she says softly.
“You and me both, babe. How are you holdin’ up? You haven’t rested for fuckin’ days, Aviana. You need to go home and sleep.”
“Without you?” She shakes her head. “No.”
“I’m good here.”
“So am I.”
Stubborn girl.
I fucking love her for it, though.
“Have you been watching the news?” she asks, sitting down on a squeaky chair in the hall.
I sit beside her, holding the hot coffee between my hands, liking how it gives me a feeling of warmth.
“Yeah,” I answer. “Been seein’ it all. Benedict was right, they took it as those men turning on each other and it ending in a blood bath. They’re braggin’ about bringing down one of the biggest operations in the state. Gotta love how they take all the credit.”
Aviana snorts. “Yeah, better them than us, though. I’m glad we weren’t there. It looked dangerous.”
“Yeah, it was. Has Alarick released Benedict?”
“Not until he knows Samson is going to pull through, and we can have him transferred back home. Then he’ll set him free. Zariah did say that Kendric’s lawyer has contacted him and told him they had received new evidence against Dax and that his charges were being dropped, which is incredible news. He has to go and deal with it when he gets home, but so far, it’s looking really positive for him.”
“That’s fuckin’ great news,” I exhale with relief.
Kendric never deserved to be done for that crime.
He took one for the team, but without Dax around, he was it.
I guess now they see that he wasn’t part of it at all.
“He was standin’ by the body, and he did confess. Is that going to affect him?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s what he’s got to go back for. It may still go to trial, but with Dax dead, there is a chance it won’t because, well, who will they convict? I guess Kendric has to come up with something to prove his innocence. I’m sure Zariah has that covered. Also, Benedict has his top men working on it, so we can almost guarantee they’re going to wipe the slate clean on that case.”
“Powerful man that one,” I mutter.
“Yeah, he really is.”
The doors open, and a doctor walks out with Lilian by his side. My heart leaps into my fucking throat, but when that beautiful girl smiles, I know she is about to share something pretty incredible.
“He’s awake,” she says, her voice soft and quiet. “He’s okay.”