Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
That didn’t answer anything.
“And that would be?”
With a sigh, he straightened back up from leaning over the table. “Beatings, to start. They’ll be filmed, and the video will be sent to King Salazar to see what kind of reaction we get. Falcon doesn’t want to hurt you. He wants our money. That is all. Once he gets it, you’ll be free to go.”
I was finding that too easy. If it was this easy, wouldn’t Blaise have already given them the money? They had it. Maeme said that I was wealthy. Why not give them that money?
“I have money,” I blurted out. “What if I have them give you mine?”
He sat down across from me. “We don’t want your money. We want ours.”
“But you’ll beat me to get it.”
He tilted his head to the side slightly with a sigh. “Do you not think you’re important enough for them to retrieve?”
Yes. I thought so. Maeme would want me back. King would too. Even if he didn’t love me, he cared about me. We were friends first. There was something he felt for me.
“I think …” I said, then paused, unsure how much truth they should have. Telling them I didn’t know if they would might have them speeding up the beating portion. I couldn’t let them hit me. “They will want me.”
That would buy me time.
He smirked. “I agree. If not, he’s an idiot.” Then, he held up a pastry and winked before taking a bite.
I looked down at the food in front of me, and my stomach rolled. There was no appetite. I was almost positive eating would send me running for the toilet. But then I also had someone else to think about. Someone who needed to be nourished. This was no longer about me. It never would be again.
I picked up my fork and cut off a small piece of a pastry with raspberries in some kind of cream decorating the top.
“Do they know where I am?” I asked him.
“They are about to know. Falcon wanted to speak with you before he made his next move.”
King would save me. I had to believe that.
• Twenty-Four •
This is fucking Gage’s fault!
King
“Sit down, goddammit!” my father shouted as I stood up from the bed.
I glared at him, reaching for the wall to steady myself. “I need crutches and my fucking gun,” I snarled angrily.
The motherfucker had shot me. I was going to kill him. But first, I had to find Rumor. The tight grip in my chest was more painful than the wound in my leg. I could handle any physical pain, but the sheer agony that clenched me at the thought of Rumor being hurt, taken from me, how scared she was—FUCK!
“You just had a bullet removed. SIT DOWN!” my father demanded as he stalked from across the room toward me.
“I swear to God, if you touch me, I will lay you out,” I warned him.
He paused, his eyes flickering in surprise.
“Get me crutches, and I want my goddamn Glock.”
The bedroom door opened, and Stellan walked inside. He looked at me standing and shook his head, then turned to my father. “Blaise is here.”
My dad nodded as I fisted my hands at my sides. This was his fault. She had been taken from me because he had put her safety on the back burner. I didn’t give a fuck if he was the boss. The former boss, his father Garrett Hughes, would never have let this happen.
“Stop scowling,” Stellan said pointedly at me. “You need to remember who the fuck you are and who you answer to.”
“They took her,” I said through clenched teeth.
He nodded once. “And we will find her. But that man”—he pointed at the door and spoke in a low voice—“is the boss. He won’t just shoot you in the leg to make his point.”
I couldn’t die today. Not when Rumor needed me. I tried to calm the fury rolling through me as I nodded.
Stellan stepped over to the door and waited like the soldier he was. He’d been in charge of the Georgia branch, answering to Garrett and now Blaise, since he had been twenty-seven years old. This was a life we’d all been born into, but right now, I didn’t give one flying fuck. I wanted Rumor in my arms. Tucked safely into my side. I’d never leave her again. They could all suck a dick. Scotlin wasn’t my job any longer. I’d wait until I had Rumor back, and then I’d tell them. If he killed me, then fucking fine.
Blaise Hughes walked into the room alone. It was rare that Huck or Gage wasn’t at his side. He said nothing to my father or Stellan. His gaze was on me the moment he entered the room. I bit my tongue to keep from saying something that would have him ending my life.