Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“Ten…” he says for me, and I watch as his blue eyes widen.
“Ten,” I repeat, imagining diving into his blue depths like I would the ocean. Swimming, drinking.
“Nine,” I say, and the ocean waters turns to blood. “Eight.” The metallic taste of blood touches the tip of my tongue, but when it slides down my throat, it crystallizes into sugar. “Seven.” My teeth sink into the flesh of a cherry as screams erupt around me. “Six…” My entire life rewinds backward, skipping over events from the past that I cherish, hold on to, or despise…
A woman was spread out on a hospital bed, her legs up in stirrups, and people around her body. They were screaming at her to push. Harder. Faster. Breathe. I continued to walk around the gathering until I could get between the cracks of two people.
“Push, Kiana.” My head turned to the side, following the sound of the doctor’s voice. I recognized him instantly as Kaius. What the fuck was Kaius doing in here with my mother?
I finally ghosted through the crack of bodies and goose bumps rose to the back of my neck.
“What’s happening?” I knew no one could hear me, but I needed to say the words anyway. I followed all of the other faces. Kaius, Keres, Kian, Kallisto.
“It’s a girl,” Kaius said, swiping the goo off the little baby’s face with the back of his thumb.
“Oh good!” My mother sighed out with a smile, looking up at her husband. The man I called Father all of my life and who I still looked at like one because he’s Kyrin’s.
“But she isn’t staying. She must leave us.” Kaius turned and screams erupted through the room when my mother launched off the bed, reaching for the baby. The baby, I’m guessing, was me.
My stepfather pressed her back down onto the bed with a forceful shove. “Let her go. She’s not of us.”
“She’s mine, which means she is!” My mother spat in my stepfather’s face. “If you don’t let me up, I’ll kill you.”
“I can’t.” He gazed up at Keres. “Do it. Remove her.”
Kallisto looked between the two of them.
“Fucking do it!”
Keres grabbed hold of my mother’s hand and squeezed, staring off into her eyes. As he whispered the words that were designed for her and her only, I walked around to the side of his back and noticed a Zippo lighter in his other hand. He’s working it with his thumb but going backward instead of forward.
What?
The baby. Me. Where had I gone? I dashed through the twin doors and ran down the corridor of the hospital, looking through each cubicle but finding them all empty.
I stopped, puffing when I reached the end, and that was when I heard it.
The cries.
I paused. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I fell to the hard floor.
“She’s yours. No one here will know that she exists. And we’re even now. You don’t come for Keaton for killing your other girl. You do what you want with this one until the time comes.”
Cries whimpered from down the long corridor, and I stepped beneath the person who was awaiting to take me from Kaius. They’re dressed in a long cloak that hid their face, but their body was small. I expected to see Dominic. I wanted to see Dominic.
I didn’t see Dominic.
My head explodes with pain so hot it sears the backs of my eyes. “Cartier, look at me! Stay there. Close your eyes.” Killian’s voice puts me back into a lullaby…
Past
I tapped my pointed heel against the white marble floor. I was sure there was a clock ticking somewhere in the background, but that couldn’t be right. There were no clocks in this house.
I stood from the chair and moved to the door, squeezing the handle and yanking it open. There was a guard at one end, and another at the other. Typical. God, but I was bored.
“Where’s Daddy?” I asked, batting my lashes at Jim, the guard I knew I could get away with the most.
He slowly turned his body toward me, clutching the AR across his chest. “Downstairs in a meeting.”
“Ohhh, sounds important…” I flew down the staircase, dodging his arms.
He pointed at me with the tip of his gun. “Get the fuck back upstairs.”
“Nuh uh!” I wriggled my finger up at him while slowly walking down backward. “I’m bored, and I’m the only person who is home right now.” As soon as my feet hit the bottom of the stairs, I flew around the corner and ran down the corridor, leaving a fit of laughter behind me.
“Hadley, no!” Jim yelled, just as I skidded through the double doors of the office.
The chatter stopped, and the four men who were seated on the opposite side of the desk with their backs turned to me slowly shifted to see who it was that had the audacity to fly through Dominic Stranger’s office during a meeting.