Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
“Isabella. What the fuck are you doing here?”
She uncrosses her leg and pulls a black manila folder out from beneath her cape that’s beside her. She hands it to Priest. “Everything is in here. They worked fast. Too fast, even for me.” She pauses, and now it’s her who is probably reading my mind. “And let this be a warning to you both: Because she clearly does not like me, that does not mean you can kill me. I won’t go down easy, and as Priest knows, I’m damn good at what I do.”
We all pause.
“Which is?” I study her closely. “I mean, aside from hunting out what he needs and ensuring his path is clear—which, by the way, it wasn’t tonight—what is it that you do?”
“Luna…” Nate warns from behind her.
My hand covers Priest’s that’s on my thigh. “Don’t worry.” I hold her gaze. “This won’t take long, because you see, Oh Dear Huntress Supreme, I’m beginning to think you may not be as good as you claim to be, and mark my words, he will only have unparalleled excellence at his back at all times, or the next bullet that’s flying, is going right between your eyes.” I shift forward a little, the muscles around my eyes tensing to match my smirk. “And you and I both know I’ve got far better aim than you do.”
Her smile stretches over her face. “Ah, well, some shit doesn’t change, but don’t fret, oh Chosen one—” I stiffen, my eyes flying to Nate. He notices my panic and closes in. She turns over her shoulder slightly. “Oh relax, Malum. I’m not threatening your favorite child.” She winks at someone behind me and continues. “This is everything I could find. After I got off the phone with you when you were with Archer, his right-hand man was shot and killed. Not sure why yet, since there’s no trail. Whoever they are, they’re good. Great, even.”
“Is she dead?” Priest asks the question I know we all want to know. I can’t imagine a life without someone I have known my whole life. I’d had moments of feeling close with my mom, but I’ve seen the way Priest is with his. I didn’t have that.
The ticking clock in the foyer fills the silence.
“No. I don’t believe so.”
Relief unties all the tension in my body.
“…But she may as well be.”
What does that mean! I keep my questions locked in my head as she and Priest go back and forth. When they break, I turn to Priest, locked in my own thoughts and forgetting we’re not the only ones in the room. Asking him the question I can’t say out loud.
He shakes his head.
Losing Madison wouldn’t only shift the dynamics of the EKC, but—everything. She is the foundation of the entire family. When the foundation dies, it’s not long before everything built from it rots alongside with it.
A line furrows between his two perfect brows. He knows what I’m asking. I’m sure of it. His brows fan out over high cheeks, and as if on cue with reading my thoughts, the muscles in his face relax, his mouth a flat line. If the tension on either side of his jaw gives away anything, which it does if you know him the way I do, he’s pissed at me.
“Huntress or not…”
Everyone falls quiet when Bishop speaks. Whether the temperature drops in the room or it’s the effect of an angry Hayes man, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m pretty sure someone is about to die.
“I’ll kill you if you don’t tell me where the fuck my wife is.”
“She won’t be dead. Yet…” the Huntress murmurs and I can’t tell if she’s brave or stupid. “But she will be, and when they do it, they’ll make sure to make a show out of it.”
All the good was taken from Bishop the moment they snatched her. I get it now. The anchor of his honorable nature relies on one thing.
Her.
She’s the anchor to the admirable way he spent his time with the gavel. A Hayes with that look in his eyes is never a good thing. I’ve never seen it in him because I didn’t know him without her, but I see it. Clear as day. Beneath the surface, buried deep beneath his love for one woman, is the same beast that lives within his son.
“They won’t be touching her.”
Huntress has the balls to lift a single brow. “I have been hunting these animals since Priest put me on their trail after Hector fell short. I can assure you, they will be.”
Bishop holds her stare, and if I was on the receiving end of it, I’d run. Fast.
The Huntress doesn’t cower, remaining unbothered in the presence of an impending war.
“My daughter-in-law is right. You’re not very good.” His eyes narrow on his son. “Not that I questioned her intellect to begin with.”