Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 178117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 712(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 178117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 712(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
“You admit you killed her,” Penelope says.
My father snorts and throws out a stilted laugh. “I didn’t force her to run off that ledge. She made that choice.”
“But you told her to leave and abort the baby or face the consequences!” Penelope screams.
Everyone is silent for a few seconds, but the air crackles like lightning.
“I did what I had to, to protect my son and—”
“Your reputation,” I interject. “Because that’s what this is all about, isn’t it?”
But instead of replying, he only pushes the gun further into my temple, confirming my suspicions.
“And then you forced Nathan and Kai to torment me to get me to leave too,” Penelope says. “They set fire to the Alpha Psi house because you told them to, didn’t you?”
“Nathan’s a tool,” my father spouts. “They were supposed to retrieve the diary and destroy the evidence, but they couldn’t even do that correctly.”
No wonder those guys didn’t want to talk. If they did, he would have them killed.
“This was never about me …” I mutter, making a fist, despite the pain. “It was about you and your poisonous need to be a perfect little family.” I brace myself. “But that family has turned to dust because of you.”
I spin on my heels and punch him in the face, but he recoils and knocks his forehead against mine. I punch him again, this time in the gut.
BANG!
The gun goes off, a bullet entering through my waist.
“Dylan!” Alistair says, trying to approach us.
“Don’t intervene!” I yell back.
“Come on then, boy,” my father taunts him. “I’ll blow your brains out before you even so much as touch me.”
“You mother—”
I grasp his wrist and force him to lower the gun, but he won’t let go without a fight. We struggle for power as we backtrack all the way to The Edge.
“Give up,” I tell him. “Give it to me.”
“And let my life be ruined by your fucked-up antics?” he retorts. “Fuck no.”
He jabs me in the stomach so hard I buck and heave.
“You deserve to rot in jail for the rest of your life,” I say through gritted teeth, looking up at him.
“I’ll kill every last one of these motherfuckers you call friends before I let that happen,” he says.
My eyes widen as he aims his gun right at Penelope.
No.
I can’t let it happen.
I throw myself at him as hard as I can, knocking him off balance.
BANG!
The gun goes off as he tumbles off The Edge, grasping my ankle just before he goes, pulling me with him.
ALISTAIR
“Dylan!”
Without thinking, I run to The Edge, ignoring Dylan’s warning, ignoring everything I know would keep me safe.
He’s barely holding on with a single hand clutching a bunch of roots from a nearby tree. I throw myself to the ground and slide to him, reaching out my hand.
“Take my hand!”
But Dylan can barely reach for me with the arm that’s still bleeding profusely from the wound his own father created. And the man is hanging onto his ankle, pulling him down farther.
The rocks slip, and more dust and dirt fly down into the gaping abyss below.
“Don’t let go!” I yell.
“You take me with you, you hear me?” his father growls. “If you let me fall …” He pulls up the gun and points it right at Dylan. “I’ll take him with me.”
I gulp.
Fuck. What do I do? I’m not nearly strong enough to pull up both.
Dylan shakes his feet around. “Let go of me!”
Suddenly, Dean Caruso points the gun at me. “Stop moving, or I’ll put a bullet in your fucking friend instead.”
Has he lost his mind? Or was he always this insane?
“Felix!” I call over my shoulder, but he’s already much closer than I anticipated, and he kneels in front of us, grasping Dylan’s wrist too. Penelope runs up to us too, shaking with terror as she peers over the edge.
“He’s alive,” she says in shock.
“Not for long if you don’t pull us both up,” his father rasps.
“Fucking die, you son of a bitch!” Dylan shakes his feet some more.
“What?” Penelope gasps, and she leans in to look over The Edge to witness Dylan’s father holding on like a fucking parasite.
“I’ll kill all of you if you don’t pull me up,” his father says, pointing the gun at Penelope this time.
She freezes in place at the sight of the barrel pointed at her head.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Felix growls at him, keeping a tight hold on Dylan. “If so much as a single drop of blood rolls down her skin, I will rip every one of your fucking limbs off your body.”
The dean’s eyes widen and narrow in a split second. “I’ll fucking kill her in front of you before you even have a chance.”
Dylan’s fingers slowly unravel from the piece of rock he’s holding on to. But it’s the look in his eyes that scares me the most. The only time I’ve ever seen it is the day Eve died.