Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
I know instantly Sai will be reamed for this, but it’s my father’s own fault he wasn’t there watching in the wings. He’s been pulling him from what Sai has said.
My every step has been watched; my dad is the one who told me this. That’s how Otto knew where I was going and when I was leaving that night in time to stop me.
The others quietly slip from the room, the air inside it shifting, and then it’s only Revenaws left. My father, my sister, and me.
Our father wastes not a moment of our time.
“The boy will die,” he promises.
Uncertainty washes over me. “Dad—”
“The boy,” he booms, cutting me off, attention still locked on my skin. “Will die.”
I swallow the words locked in my throat because a warning of what that could start isn’t one he needs. He knows good and well what killing the son of a council member could cause. In his mind though, it wouldn’t be murder.
It would be a reprimand, the only kind he’s capable of.
Finally, his eyes come up to meet mine, a scary kind of hardness within them, and he gives the smallest of nods. “Finish today’s classes, find your sister, and together, walk to my car. I will be parked where Sai is normally parked, and we will head home as one.”
I know instantly that his comment from the night he forced us to move back into his mansion is now finally coming full circle. He said we would speak, and he held off on what he had to say for as long as he could. He can’t anymore.
Which means that I was right.
Otto Henshaw has something on my father, something his son was well aware of, and with him missing, it’s bound to come to light.
Mr. Henshaw undoubtedly believes we’re responsible for his son going missing.
And I think maybe we are …
Bass
My phone beeps in my pocket, so I pull it out, waiting till the very last second to move my eyes to the screen to find the third Brayshaw brother’s name there.
Captain: Raven’s ready to end this. Get here.
My insides fucking flip as I hold my screen up for Hayze to see, eyes sliding right back to the high glass windows.
“So, this is it, huh?” he asks.
I nod, eyes narrowing on the blond head that appears.
For the last four years, I’ve given my loyalty to the town and family that took me in, even if it was for their own benefit more than mine.
Nah, that ain’t true. It benefited the shit out of me, got me out of trouble, kept me out of juvenile hall, maybe even straight-up prison based on how I maniacally laughed and added a second bullet to a dead man right there for all the cops and firemen and shit to see. But then again, they did bring me because they needed hands, and they like to use the rough street rat ones in Brayshaw. But the puzzle pieces are falling together in this place, so it’s time to make the jump, especially knowing what I do now.
I waited a long fucking time for this.
Maddoc has no idea about the bomb he dropped on me, but then again, maybe he does. Maybe that’s why he told me in the first place about this council and the men who sit on it, about what Mr. Henshaw does. It makes sense now. Unexpected, that’s for damn sure, but a circle is a circle, so I shouldn’t be too surprised.
There’re still some gaps, but I’ll get those filled in … one way or another.
A smirk pulls out my lips, and when I tap the dash, Hayes pulls out and back onto the road, heading back to Brayshaw for what will be the last time as one of theirs.
Things are about to change. The minute I release myself from the family I work for, nothing will be the same.
I’m cutting the fucking leash wrapped around my neck. There will be no strings left to be pulled. No person to answer to. No cliff I can’t climb.
For the first time in a long fucking time, maybe even ever, I’m going to walk under the shadow of the night as Bass fucking Bishop.
I know better than most that nothing worth having is given to you, so I will take what I want. I’ll become the thief in this story. The pieces are already in position, just waiting to be played and play them I will. After that, all that’s left is to capture the king and claim the queen.
Should be easy enough for a shadow.
A nobody.
A no-good punk no one saw coming.
That’s what I am, but I’ll be damned if that’s what I stay, so watch your world, Rich Girl.
Or better yet … don’t.
Chapter 30
Rocklin
“I made a mistake.”
That’s the sentence my father decides to start with as he stares my sister and me down from his seat across the coffee table.