Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
“Alright, there she is.”
Linc whirled back, leaning over my shoulder. There on the screen, we could see our angel lacing up her boots, stretching, and then stepping into the woods down the path from my back gardens.
“Don’t suppose you’ve got any fucking cameras hanging from trees do you?”
I growled. “I wish. Fuck, I’m going to call Sheriff Watkins and get him to get his guys out there looking for her. You and I can—”
“Where’s that trail lead?”
I frowned, glancing back at him. “Like five different places.”
“Yeah, well, think like her. C’mon, we know her. We know how she thinks. Where would Kenzie go?”
I chewed on that, my blood running hot as the minutes without knowing where she was ticked agonizingly by.
“Think, Marine,” Lincoln growled. “Remember how she tried to pull us out of work earlier?”
I smiled grimly, thinking back regretfully how I’d promised her “later” and “after work” when she’d tried to coax Linc and I back to bed earlier, before her hike.
Suddenly, I glanced up at him.
“She could’ve tried to come back here.”
I whirled to the screen, scrolling through the cameras until I found the one by the front gate. My blood raced in my veins as I fast-forwarded through the time log, until suddenly, we saw it.
There was Kenzie, opening the security pad. And there was a car, slowing behind her.
A sinking, cold feeling gripped my heart. And as the car pulled up behind her, and the door swung open, I could tell Lincoln knew too as I heard his breath hiss.
It was her dad, along with my fucking sister.
We watched, the cold rage building and building as he grabbed her, and as Stephanie helped. When he slapped her, I roared, lunging out of my chair.
I didn’t need to see the rest.
“Let’s go.”
I stormed from the room, my vision red with fury and every muscle in my body tensing and readying. Lincoln ran after me, right there with me, and not even asking questions until I barreled into the garage and jumped behind the wheel of my Bentley.
Lincoln wordlessly jumped in next to me, his face grim as I gunned the engine, hit the button for the garage door, and roared down the driveway.
“I know where they are,” I growled under my breath, both of us heaving and seething in the tense silence.
“Well I didn’t think you just wanted to go for a drive,” he muttered back.
“My sister and that dipshit are supposed to be in jail. In fact, the DA we know swore he’d call me first thing if they somehow got early release.”
“No call, huh?”
I shook my head.
“What, they fucking broke out?”
I glanced at my buddy. “Either way, they’re out.”
“And they’ve got her.”
I gritted my teeth, the fury raging through me.
“They’re going to call, and they’re going to want money,” I spit. “I know my goddamn sister, and that’s their play here. Probably looking to score more drugs or some shit.”
“But you know where they are.”
“Yep.”
The small town where I’d built my house, and where Lincoln was building his wasn’t just some random town. Back when I was young, when things were simple and before our parents died young, they used to bring Steph and me here. The small little country house we used to rent for a few weeks in the summer was gone by the time I’d decided to move here, but it was that land that I’d built on.
Back then, with no tv or internet or bullshit like that to capture our attentions, Steph and I had gone exploring instead. Specifically, the old Peterson Mill out by the edge of town. And instantly, I knew two things as I gunned the engine, blasting down the country roads as the blood pounded through my veins like diesel.
One, Steph and her dipshit boyfriend were out for cash, and they’d grabbed Kenzie to do it. They hadn’t called yet, but I knew they would, and I knew for certain where they were.
I knew that and one other thing: if they’d harmed one single hair on Kenzie’s head, there’d be fucking hell to pay.
The car screeched around a bend, kicking up dirt as I slammed on the gas. Suddenly, my cell chimed over the bluetooth, and I glanced at Lincoln, who clenched his jaw grimly.
“Right on fucking time,” he muttered.
“You fucked up, Stephanie.”
I didn’t even let her talk before I spoke, my voice cutting through the phone like a jagged blade. I could hear her stammering, caught off guard by me knowing exactly who it was before she even spoke.
“Listen, Wilder—”
“No,” I growled, my voice like cold ice. “You listen. We’re coming for her, and if you have any fucking sense left in you, you and that piece of shit who calls himself her father will leave her, and get the fuck out of dodge, now.”
“Fuck you, Wilder, if you want to see this bitc—”