Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
My lungs seemed to squeeze tightly, blocking my breath. Unfortunately, he was halfway right. I had involved myself deeper, but it was only because people around me started dying and the Kings took an interest in me. I could’ve gone on with my life normally if I hadn’t been dragged into this mess in the first place.
“Some of that blame is on your son,” I told him evenly.
“He did his job.” Edward smirked as his eyes trailed around my face. “And I bet he had a good time doing so. You may be trouble, but you’ve got a pretty face.”
I grimaced at his words, leaning back as much as I could, but his face remained a few inches from mine. When his hand cupped my cheek, I froze as my eyes widened. Was he really that bold and twisted?
“Don’t touch me,” I ordered, but my voice came out quieter than I hoped.
Edward suddenly grabbed my jaw roughly, making me grunt in pain.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want to you,” he growled in my face. His face then relaxed as he chuckled, shaking his head. “I’d advise you to behave before I make you.”
I didn’t say anything as he turned away from me. I didn’t need to mess with him. He didn’t have any boundaries from what I could see, and I was nervous to see how far he would go to intimidate me. I already felt nervous around him.
“We’ve heard a rumor about you,” Peter spoke up as Edward fell back in line. “There are more eyes and ears around the academy than you think.”
“What rumor?” I asked.
Peter and Edward glanced at each other before looking back at me.
“Schmidt gave you a key. An important key,” Peter replied.
“We need to know what it’s for,” Edward added. “And you will tell us.”
I knew what the key was for, but I especially didn’t want them to find out. No matter what they did to me, I was going to keep my mouth shut about it because I didn’t want to help them in any way. They didn’t deserve a single dollar of their money.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I told them, keeping my face straight.
Peter narrowed his eyes at me.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” he warned me. “You’ve become the dean’s pet, which means he needs something from you.”
“You’re overestimating Schmidt and I’s relationship,” I scoffed as I shook my head at him. Even if he was right, I wasn’t going to admit that to him. If I could throw them off track, I would do so.
“I don’t believe so. That’s why we’re keeping you hostage as blackmail. The dean won’t want to lose yet another student.” Edward smirked, looking pleased with their plan. “If he wants to keep you alive, he needs to give our money back instead of moving it to Switzerland.”
Coldness flooded through me. I was merely blackmail. They weren’t even keeping me here for an important reason! If I wasn’t already pissed off with my current predicament, I surely was now. There was no use arguing with them. They were so set in their ways just like Kings usually were.
“He doesn’t care that much about me. We’ll be here forever,” I muttered as I settled back in the chair. I might as well get comfortable because I wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
“We’ll see about that,” Peter told me before heading out of the room.
Edward stepped closer to me, leaning down so that we were eye-to-eye.
“For your sake, you better hope he has an ounce of regard for your life,” he said in a low voice. “Because if we can’t use you, we’re going to get rid of you.”
My eyes grew wide as I watched him walk away, hearing his cold laugh echo throughout the catacombs. He couldn’t possibly mean they would kill me! I hadn’t known him for long, but I feared that Edward was a man of his word. If someone didn’t rescue me, I would meet the same fate as Gail and Simone.
I wasn’t ready to die. Maybe I should’ve felt braver or less panicked, but at the end of the day, I was still human. I wanted to live and grow old. I wanted to experience love more, even if that meant dealing with heartbreak too. I would rather feel every emotion possible than feel nothing at all.
CHAPTER 2
SOL
Being in this small, forgotten village only deepened the feeling of loneliness that haunted me since Biba left. Even as Theo and I ate lunch at a tiny tavern, all I could think about was her and how I wished that she was here. She was still at Stormcloud, abiding by her plan that she insisted she had to follow. When she was ready to be picked up, she would call in a coded message to us.