Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 55510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
My chest tightened as I tried to breathe in deeply, not missing how his voice seemed to give out at the end of his last sentence. I didn’t know who was trying to kill me or why, but I was getting tired of fearing for my life. Why did my father have to do this to me? He took our good life and blew it up into pieces, and now I had to deal with the fallout without even being involved.
What drove me even crazier was his decisions put the guys in danger too. They were risking their lives to protect me, nearly getting shot while out on a simple patrol. If something terrible happened to any of them, I wasn’t sure if I could recover from that loss.
“We need to talk,” I told them as I stormed away from the bedroom, grinding my teeth. I had to do something. Anything! I felt like I was waiting to be dragged into my own coffin at this point. It was only a matter of time before someone found the cabin and attacked us.
The five of us gathered in the living room in a circle.
“There’s no reason to leave just yet. They don’t know where the cabin is, and we have weapons here,” Akio pointed out.
“He was only two miles from the cabin,” Benjamin protested. “If we keep sitting here, they’ll find us and kill us all in our sleep.”
“Where are we even going to go if we do leave?” Rhett asked as he looked at the others.
“We can find somewhere else to hide in the city. Or on the outskirts,” Andrew replied. “I don’t want to wait around until they figure out how to surround us and trap us. It puts Emery in too much danger.”
“I don’t want to stay here,” I spoke up, drawing their eyes to me. At the end of the day, the attackers were after me. They wanted me for some reason, so I wanted a say in what happened next. It was my life.
“We don’t know what we’re facing out there. We’re unprepared,” Akio urged me to realize, worry written all over his face.
“We’re not going to find out anything staying here!” I protested as I shook my head. “I know it’s dangerous to go back to the city, but it’s our only shot at finding out what’s really going on. I need to know why my life is at stake.”
“Deviau is probably pissed your dad got caught. He might be after you for revenge,” Benjamin replied, coaxing the others to nod their agreement.
“Then, we need to find him instead of letting him find us first. Please, we can’t just sit here and wait for him to make his move,” I pleaded. I knew they were looking out for me and trying to keep me out of harm’s way, but a lack of information could kill me faster than anything else.
“He’s not someone you need to be within a hundred miles of,” Andrew warned me in a grave tone as he stepped closer to me. “Maybe we should send her off out of state.”
“He’ll find me! I can’t run forever,” I snapped as I stood in the circle with narrowed eyes. “I refuse to live my life on the run when I have the chance to make a difference in this terrible world. I’m going to get to the bottom of this. With or without you.”
“We’re not letting you do anything alone,” Rhett said as he crossed his arms. “Not anymore.”
Akio shook his head.
“Where you go, we go,” he agreed.
Even Benjamin relaxed slightly and nodded.
I turned to Andrew, who still looked unsure.
“I need this to end. Are you going to help me or not?” I asked him, wanting him to be on my team. I needed all of them.
Andrew met my gaze and eventually nodded.
“Of course,” he said. “We have your back.”
My face softened as the corner of my mouth curled up. I moved my eyes around to peer at all of them, only seeing determined expressions now.
“I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to,” I replied, feeling my heart swell in my chest. I had grown to become quite fond of all of them, and I wanted them by my side as I fought to have my life back.
“What is your plan?” Benjamin asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“We go back to the city and find out as much information as we can as quickly as we can. Maybe we can stay undetected,” I replied. It wasn’t a solid plan, but it was a start. If we could find out what was going on, we had a better chance of eliminating the main threat.
The guys all looked at each other, gradually nodding their agreement.
“We need to find a place to stay, and we need to get information on who he is,” Andrew said as he pointed to the room where the attacker was locked in. “I want to know who we’re up against. He’s a terrible shot, but that doesn’t mean his boss isn’t dangerous.”