Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
I clenched my teeth, willing myself not to show the grief and anger inside me. My grandmother had taught me more than merely making butterscotch pie. She’d taught me to love the person on the inside. Not the person you see on the outside. That was something my pap would never understand.
“You know you’re gonna die here. Right?” I said, trying to keep my voice neutral. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’re gonna die. Hard. Ain’t got no idea how long they plan on keepin’ you alive, but I’m gonna sit here and watch every little thing they do. I’m gonna pay real close attention.” I took one slow step toward him. “Gonna learn how they do everything they’re gettin’ ready to do to you and how to do it so you stay alive as long as possible. When they finally decide to let you die, my face is gonna be the last thing you see. And I’m gonna smile and rejoice in my heart that you’re on your way to hell.”
“Jolene,” Styx slipped his hand into mine. It was a tender gesture. One meant to pull me back from the edge of insanity. I wanted to scream. To weep. Mostly, I wanted revenge. And Poppy wasn’t the only one who needed to pay.
“He’s not the only one gonna suffer,” I whispered. “I’m gonna make all of ’em pay.”
“You leave that to me, baby. I’ll bring every single motherfucker’s head back to you on a silver fuckin’ platter. But you let me worry about it.”
I shook my head. “This was your kill, Styx. The others? Avery, Clyde, the cousins? They’re mine. I’m gonna hurt them like they hurt me.”
Cain stepped close to us. “Styx, take your woman out of here. She’s stuck in the past. Bring her back to you.”
When Styx hooked his arm around my shoulders and tried to urge me away from the carnage playing out in front of me, I resisted. “Not until it’s finished,” I said quietly. “Meant what I said. I want the last face he sees to be mine. Right before he crosses into the gates of Hell. So, I’m stayin, Cain. Until you’re done with this. I’m stayin’. And I hope you see fit to draw it out as long as possible.”
Cain looked like he was grinding his teeth in frustration. He also looked resigned. Then he nodded. “I’m given’ Styx latitude on this one. Only thing I’m sayin’ is, if you betray us, if this leaves the club, you answer to me. I don’t torture women I know need to die, so it’ll be clean, but the price for betrayal is still death.”
Styx growled and tried to step between me and Cain, but I blocked him, taking a step closer to the Bones president. “I hear ya. And betrayin’ the club means betrayin’ men and women who’ve earned my respect. Your wife is one of my favorite people in the world. So’s Mama. All the ol’ ladies here have closed ranks around me since Styx brought me here. No one -- not even my own family of McCoys, who always defend their own from Hatfields -- ever protected me the way everyone here has. Especially Styx. I don’t betray people like that. Good people. Y’all’s good people.”
“So be it.”
Then Cain and his enforcers continued beating Poppy. With every hit, every groan and scream of pain from my father, I tried to find some empathy. To cringe or find a reason to ask Cain to stop it. Every time I thought that was what I should do, I’d remember how many times I went to school with a black eye. Or came home to him exploding in anger at me, shutting me out of the house in the dead of winter because I was late coming home. Taking my money so I couldn’t leave home while telling me how he hated me and trying every way he could to make me leave. So I kept my mouth shut and watched. And didn’t feel a Goddamned thing.
Chapter Six
Styx
I had to get Jolene out of there. She’d somehow shut down her emotions. Her gaze was intent on her father, holding his gaze when he could focus, letting him see her resolve to keep her word. And the bastard saw it. He seemed to want to look away from her, but couldn’t. Her gaze was hard. Determined. Cain was right. She was lost in the past. Whatever she was remembering wasn’t pleasant, and it didn’t include anything positive. I glanced at Cain, who looked at Jolene, studying her for several seconds. After a brief glance back at me, Cain stopped the torture.
“Bohannon,” Cain said softly. The other man, who’d been letting Sword take his turn working McCoy over, raised an eyebrow at Cain. Cain nodded.