Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
“I don’t know what Perry was talking about,” I told him.
His scowl returned. “Your willingness to lock yourself back in this basement tells me that you’re lying. You will do anything to protect him, yet he did nothing to protect you. In fact, I’d even say he just threw you to the fucking wolves. But then he could have been trying to make us believe you weren’t important to him. See if we’d let you go, stop wasting our time with you,” Oz said as he stepped closer to the bars, his hand wrapping around one, making me shiver, as if he had the power to rip it from the floor. “I think I’ll call his bluff.”
What did that mean? Call his bluff on what?
Oz let go, his hand dropping to his side before he turned and walked away. I listened as he climbed the stairs, then closed the door. Darkness ascended. I had no light. Why hadn’t I grabbed my phone? He’d taken the lantern with him when we walked out yesterday morning. Another thing I hadn’t thought about. But there had been no time.
Thirteen
Oz
Picking up the plate of food I’d made for Winslet, I slung it against the wall, sending the food flying as the plate broke into pieces on the stone tile floor. My blood roared in my ears as my breathing came in fast and hard. Stalking over to her phone, I picked it up and glared down at it.
He could have been lying. Trying to throw us off. Make us focus on getting her to talk instead of trailing him. But if that was the case, then he was a bigger son of a bitch than I had thought. Because his sister was currently locked away in a basement cell with the motherfucking key.
My temper had snapped, but that had also partly been an act. I wanted to scare the words she wasn’t saying out of her. Get her to talk. I figured after choking her, she’d blurt out whatever she knew, if she knew anything. Wilder’s call wasn’t why I let her go. I’d been about to ease up on my hold to let her get some air.
The news he’d had was that he’d traced Perry’s call to a phone owned by Samson Zephyr, who was currently in Safi. He’d managed to lose the tail we had on him last night. Samson had the upper hand of knowing the area, whereas we did not.
Blaise had sent Huck there. He had arrived this morning to join Bane, Linc, and Locke in tracking Perry down now. That news didn’t help my mood. I should be there. We had figured out where he had gone to hide because of the information Winslet had given me. I knew that keeping her was vital to this. But I no longer thought Perry was going to come running to save her, like Linc had believed he would.
I looked over her texts again for the hundredth time. The woman had no dirty secrets or hidden sins.
She texted Marley every day to check on her, which fit the woman in the basement and what I’d gotten from the things she’d said. I had texted Marley on her phone pretending to be Winslet letting her know my phone had some problems and my texts weren’t all coming through. I’d added that I was having a new one shipped to me and would catch up with her when I got it.
Winslet’s loyalty to those she loved was one reason I couldn’t trust her.
There was a group chat with elementary school teachers that went back and forth, planning things for the students, which had been inactive since the end of May. She had been active in it and seemed to be the one that the others relied on to bring things in, stay late to help, and basically do all the work. I wasn’t sure if that was because she was the newest and youngest teacher—although I didn’t know that to be a fact—or if she was just that person. The nice one who was always helpful.
The guy named Toby seemed desperate since his texts to her were long, often inviting her out, while her responses were short and she always turned him down. They weren’t dates exactly, but more along the lines of, Going out for drinks with some of the other teachers tonight. Want to join? Or, Going to a concert with friends and have an extra ticket. It’s yours if you want it. The way he would type long-ass paragraphs was the giveaway that the dude was after her.
Then, the texts with her brother were always short. Nothing informative. They seemed to talk on the phone more than text. That pointed toward them hiding something.
There were a few random texts from other teachers.