Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Alistair pushed open the door and waved me in.
My eyes immediately swept around, looking for the laptop, and I hated myself for it. Knowing when to act was important, but so was knowing when to give in. Wilder could not stand up against his brother. Why would I believe Wolf was bluffing about hurting the people I loved? He wasn’t bluffing all the times he hurt Wilder.
“It’s not much,” he said, “but I made do.”
I shook my head. Not much?
Alistair’s version of not much included a four-poster bed about the size of a small apartment, massive big-screen television, aquarium floors, matching seafoam-green wallpaper, and a roaring fireplace.
I ran over to the aquarium, dropping on my knees. Blue fish, green fish, red fish, catfish—they lazily swam beneath the glass, paying no mind to the gawking human. If this was how the Burkhardts treated their guests, I could only imagine what Saylor’s bedroom looked like. Their precious hellbeast must live in luxury itself.
“I didn’t know you could put a fish tank in the floor.”
Wonder what else they put in the floor. A floor safe, possibly? Alistair wouldn’t leave something that important lying around. I swept the place again. And I don’t see it anywhere.
“How do you feed them?” I asked. Half my mind listened to his answer, the other half mentally sketched out the silver computer bearing a red strip down the middle. I’d seen the back of it enough times when I was on the boat. I knew it on sight, and it was nowhere visible in the room.
Alistair checked his watch. “Food should be ready. Shall we?”
“Okay,” I said, leaving easily.
We didn’t go far. We went inside a room that was less a small library and more a game room. Billiards in one corner, old-timey arcade games in the other, and going down the middle was the infamous bowling alley.
“Thought we could play after we eat,” Alistair said, pulling my chair out for me. The room even had those bolted-down tables and swing-out chairs standard in every bowling alley. “Got time?”
I nodded. “I didn’t get my list back until Ronin picked me up, so I’ll go hunting for Everleigh’s cabin tomorrow.” A thought struck me. “Wait. Do you know where it is? Everton used to hide out in a cabin near town to be close to Everleigh. How could someone be such a good father but such a trash human being? From what I’ve learned, Everleigh grew up in an abusive situation too. You’d think that would’ve made Everton more sympathetic to the father and child that he helped destroy.”
“To answer your first question, no. I don’t know anything about a cabin. Everton and I had our final meeting in the Virgin Islands. That’s what tripped him up. He got cocky after years of staying ahead of the cops and decided to take a vacation in his family’s beach house in St. Thomas. I had all his properties under surveillance.”
He gave me a hard look. “If I ever impart any fatherly wisdom to you, Luna, it’s to never get overconfident. The moment you think you can’t lose, that’s when you do. The lion doesn’t catch the gazelle when it’s running its fastest. He catches that bastard when he slows down.”
“I’ll remember that.” I cast down at the delicious, heavenly-smelling breakfast/dinner my father had made for me. “I really will.”
“To answer your second question. It’s easy to believe Everton could be a good father.” Alistair tipped my chin, surprising me. “Even the worst of men love their daughters.”
I pushed back from the table, swinging out till the chair bonked hard against the metal. “Bathroom,” I explained to the floor. “I have to wash my hands.”
“Second door on the right.”
I went out, but I didn’t go right. I bypassed photos of Saylor throughout the years. Saylor at the beach. Saylor in Italy. Saylor cheesing at the camera with her arms around her dad. Saylor laughing at me in every photograph.
Snapping my head around, I clenched my teeth as I turned the corner and found myself in front of Alistair’s door. My hand shook on the knob, swinging the door open.
I don’t have much time, I thought. Minutes. Ten at the most to search and put everything back where I found it.
I took a step, then stopped. Squeezing my eyes shut, I allowed the tiniest tear to fall. It was okay to cry when you were breaking your own heart.
But only for a little while.
Taking a deep breath, I bit hard on my lip—the pain chasing away my tears. Here’s another lesson my father would teach me. I could cry all I wanted; it wouldn’t change a thing.
I steeled myself and went inside. Moving quickly but carefully, I searched the desk drawers, under the bed, around the fish tank, and then the closet.
My heart thumped, seeing my prize waiting for me beneath a rack of coats.