Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Remi shrugged. “I moved everything into drawers because I was afraid the demon cat would shred all things fabric and probably pee and poop in my shoes just for shits and giggles.” He leveled a serious look at Ryder. “I wasn’t kidding, Ryder. It’s evil. I have no idea why it’s letting you touch it. You must be like a cat whisperer, or something.”
“Nah, she can probably sense that you don’t like her,” Ryder argued. “When you were having your…vision earlier, she was sitting next to you on the bed, touching your face with her sweet little paw. How could you call that mean? She was worried about you.”
Remi rolled his eyes. “She was probably trying to figure out how to claw my eyes out while I was asleep…and defenseless.” He reached a hand out to touch the cat and the bag of bones hissed at him, jumped out of Ryder’s arms, and disappeared through the damaged bedroom door. “See! She hates me.”
“Give her time,” Ryder said as they both wandered out of the closet. They’d spent nearly three hours at the construction site and ten hours at the police station, being grilled by other detectives. It was beginning to get dark outside and Ryder knew Remi had to be exhausted and starved. “Okay, I’m going to throw together some sandwiches for us and then you’re going to bed. Grab a shower, if you want. After you’ve slept, we’ll talk about what our next step needs to be.”
Remi head whipped around. “You’re sleeping with me though, right? Don’t leave me alone when I’m sleeping, Ryder. That’s when things happen.”
“Oh, I think you should be able to rest easy tonight. Whoever is doing this will just now be hearing about Waylon’s rescue. I doubt he’ll have time to plan another abduction.”
Remi yawned. “A shower…yeah, that would feel nice. I’ll hurry. Oh, and if you see the beast, tell it to stay away from me.”
“Sure thing,” Ryder answered with a laugh. He’d never witnessed this side of Remi before and if he wasn’t careful, he might like it too much.
The man paced the small confines of the room he’d holed himself up in for the past two hours. The entirety of this room, all the things in it, was the singular focus of his life. The rest of the house was in complete disarray, but this room, his sanctuary, was immaculate. He eyed one corner of the room with distaste and corrected himself to admit it was as immaculate as it could be, all things considered. As he walked, he couldn’t believe the rage rolling off him as he entered his holy shrine, but there was no denying it. Somehow…someway, he’d lost one of the battles, and the absolute fury consuming his mind, soul, and body had followed him inside the room.
His enemies had, once again, found a way to destroy what little bit of happiness he had left in his life. How? How had someone found that lying, son of a bitch, Jason Waylon? He’d been exceptionally careful, ensuring there was no one at the construction site when he’d acted upon his dark fantasy. His work there, his third ultimate act of joy, had somehow been thwarted. It wasn’t a mistake he’d made; he was certain of it. The tube had been flush with the ground…the dirt compacted to perfection. He had worked diligently for hours to ensure there were no outward visible signs of the horror that lay beneath the construction site.
How then? How had they found the bastard? How had they known to dig him out of the earth and save a life that didn’t deserve to be saved? It made no sense. There were no explanations. Even if the inept workers had noticed a hole in the dirt, they would have just filled it with the cement and carried on with the meaningless tasks of their everyday life.
Had Jason somehow managed to loosen the ball gag from the bindings? No, he’d been too careful—had even put shrink wrap around the lower part of his face to prevent it from happening…and yet, they’d found him.
He screamed in outrage…screamed loud enough and long enough that his throat burned from the pain of it. Tears streaked his face. They wouldn’t win. He wouldn’t allow it. No matter what it took, no matter what he had to sacrifice, they would pay for what they did to his family.
He had no idea how long he screamed, but when it ended, it stopped in a split second. With his rage spent, he straightened himself back to his full six foot six inches, wiped the anguish from his face, and focused his mind back to the tasks at hand - there were other tasks to be completed.
He walked to the wall that contained his outline and spent another hour just staring at the contents. There were pictures. There were detailed and well-organized plans. There were possible outcomes listed, probable outcomes listed, and then, of course, the desired outcomes were listed, as well. He had a counter action for everything they might be able to imagine. The first girl…the one responsible for it all…her face was there, smiling at whoever had taken the picture. The goddamn bitch. This all happened because of her and her lies. That smiling face, regardless of how beautiful, was nothing more than a gift from Satan to use to manipulate others. Well…not anymore. He smiled when he imagined how her face looked now. The plan beneath her picture had been executed with precise brilliance, if he did say so himself.