Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Silence for a long moment.
“Is there anything else?” Western orders.
“Yes,” I say. “I have to do one more thing for Marek, or he won’t let me go. I have to kill someone who has been in my life for a long time. If I don’t, then I will forever belong to him.”
Mex looks at me, his eyes filled with rage and pain.
I glance away.
“Take her,” Western nods to Colt. “I need to think.”
Colt steps forward, taking my arm in his grip.
“Colt,” Myla says, appearing behind him. I didn’t even see her when I walked in. Has she been here this entire time? “Don’t hurt her.”
“Not my call, darlin’.”
“Western,” Bonnie tries. “Please.”
Western looks to her. “Stay out of it.”
Colt begins pulling me away.
“Please,” I beg. “Please just understand. I had no choice. If Marek doesn’t hear from me, it’s over. Please don’t take this from me. Please.”
Colt drags me out, and no matter how much I try, nobody comes to my rescue.
Nobody is saving me this time.
16
They lock me up, chained in the same room I was put in when I first came to the club. There is no way out, and it doesn’t seem to matter how much I scream at the door and plead, nobody comes in. I am running out of time, and if I don’t find a way to get out of here soon, then Marek is going to rip my freedom from me. I don’t know what the club has planned, but whatever it is, I need them to be quick about it.
Hours pass, but eventually, the door unlocks.
Western, Colt, Fury and Mex all stand at the door, staring in at me.
Their faces are expressionless as they look down at me where I sit on the floor, knees pressed up to my chest.
If they’re going to kill me, I wish they would hurry it up.
“If you’re going to kill me,” I say, my voice hoarse, “Do it now because if you don’t, he will.”
“We’re not goin’ to kill you,” Western answers. “You’re goin’ to go finish your business with Marek, and then you’re goin’ to do something for us.”
Something for them?
I look up at them in confusion. Mex refuses to meet my eyes.
It kills me that he’s so angry.
It hurts on a level I’m not sure I’ll recover from.
“What?” I whisper.
“You’re goin’ to give us some information we need that your mother had, before Marek takes over. You provide it to us, we’ll let you go, and you can go live the life you were so willin’ to sacrifice everything for.”
“What exactly do you want me to get?”
“We need information someone workin’ with Ivan.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name,” Western mutters, “but your mother did. He has been hidden in all of this, a silent partner. Your mother knows who he is, but we can’t seem to get our hands on his information. You get us that, you go.”
I have heard Death and my mother talking about a silent partner. I’m not certain for what reason anyone would need a silent partner unless that person was in a position of power or someone who had a reputation to uphold. I already know Mayor’s enjoy getting their hands dirty, so could it be someone higher? It’s possible and incredibly likely. Those kinds of people are the dirtiest of them all.
I nod. “I have head them talking about a silent partner.”
“We want a name. You get us that, and you can go.”
I narrow my eyes. “That’s it?”
“You gave us Ivan,” Western mutters, “if it weren’t for that, you’d be dead now. You get me this name; we’ll call it even.”
“Okay,” I say, my voice careful. “I can do that.”
“If you try to run,” Mex warns, his voice so low and deep it hurts me to hear it, “then we’ll hunt you down and make you wish you were never fuckin’ born.”
“I got it,” I grind out.
“You better move,” Western tells me, “You’re runnin’ out of time.”
Pushing to my feet, I walk towards them. Four men at the door, all over them scarily overwhelming. They don’t move for a second, instead they look at me with warning. All of them are telling me, without saying a single word, that if I try anything, I’m going to wish I hadn’t. It’s Mex’s gaze that hurts the most. He is looking at me with betrayal mixed in, too.
I dare to say it, even though I know it’ll mean nothing. “For whatever it’s worth, I truly meant no harm. If you understood the life I live, then you would understand that sometimes, you’re given no choice. I did want to hurt you all to begin with, but after a time, that changed. Now, I wish you no harm. I’m sorry.”
I push past them and get out of the club as quickly as possible.
I’m running out of time and the first thing I need to do is see Death. After today, I know it’ll destroy something inside me if I have to kill him, so right now, the best I can do is go warn him, tell him that’s his fate, try once more to get him to leave. I pray it works because if it doesn’t, I’m left with no other options. I don’t want to have to do it, but I’m so close to the end of this mess.