Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 167819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 839(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 839(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
My heart races at the silence in the room. He hasn’t made a single noise. Why isn’t he in pain? Is he even breathing?
“Out,” Tyson snaps at me as they start to drag Sin across the room toward the door.
I spin around to exit, my hair slapping my tear-streaked face, only to find that one guy standing in the doorway, blocking it. His eyes run along my body, making me shiver in fear. “It’s amazing what a man will do for a cunt.” He tilts his head to side in thought. “Makes me want to see what’s so special about it.” He steps toward me.
“Get the fuck out of the goddamn way,” Tyson shouts, still behind me.
The guy licks his lips “Maybe another time.” He steps back and I run out of the room into the hallway and then lead the guys out the way we came in.
Making it outside, Tyson hollers at me. “Open the hatch. Then lay the back seats down. We’re going to have to lay him flat.” I do as I’m told and he and my father load Sin inside the SUV.
My father jumps into the back, making it to Sin’s head, and grabs him underneath his arms, pulling him up while Tyson pushes his legs. I jump in and kneel next to Sin. Tyson shuts the hatch. “I’m going to make this quick. So hold on back there,” he tells us once he jumps into the driver’s seat.
My father nods, removing his shirt. He rips it down the middle, and then into a few more pieces. “Wrap this around his wrist. Make it tight. We have to stop the bleeding.” He hands it to me.
I sniff, snot and tears running down my face, and do as I’m told, seeing the indentions that the cuffs left. They cut deep. Too deep. It looks like he took a knife to the inside of his wrists and cut them himself horizontally.
Then my father is undoing Sin’s belt. He wraps it around Sin’s forearm. “This should provide a little extra help. At this point, it can’t hurt.” He then removes his own and does the same thing to Sin’s other arm.
“Why isn’t he awake?” I cry, my now bloody hands shaking while I place my hand on his chest, trying to feel his heartbeat. He can’t be dead. I don’t believe it.
“You don’t want him to be awake. Trust me, it’s better he’s out.” Tyson is the one who answers me.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
ELLINGTON
WE PULL UP to what I heard my father call a cathedral. I’ve never been here before so I’m not sure why we are here now, but it’s exactly what I expected to be. Old and haunting with its rosette window in the center, two towers on either side. There’s an out-of-place cross that hangs upside down.
The hatch opens and I jump out, stepping to the side so they can get Sin out of the back. I follow them inside because I don’t know where they’re going.
I follow them down a set of stairs to what looks to be a basement where the doctor from our house waits for us. He helps them get Sin onto a hospital bed. It’s like a surgical center down here. Like one of those triage centers you see in a war zone movie.
“What did they do to him?” I finally manage to ask. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but now I need to know. I don’t understand. His letter made it sound like he wanted to leave me. Why would he willingly let them do this to him?
“Adrenaline.” Tyson is the one who answers.
“Wh-at?” my voice wavers.
“They gave him a shot of adrenaline. Straight to the heart. They do that so he wouldn’t pass out. It lasts about twenty minutes. They remove the Lords’ crest by cutting it off. And to keep him from bleeding out, they cauterize it with their own. Three sixes. One for each brother.”
My hands come up to cover my face. Fresh tears spill down my cheeks. “Why would they do this to him?”
Tyson’s eyes soften on mine. “They do it to everyone, Elli. It’s their initiation. It may vary from person to person, because not everyone who enters Carnage wears the Lords’ crest, but everyone gets branded.”
My eyes shoot to my dad who stands next to them, and I look at his chest. He had removed his shirt to use it for Sin. Sure enough, I see the three sixes on his chest. They’re healed but you can’t miss the hack job they did.
“Once the adrenaline wears off, they come down and crash pretty hard,” Gavin adds,
My eyes go to him, and I see he’s already started an IV and is administering something into it.
“What is that?”
“I’ve sedated him. I’ve got to clean the wound and do an autograft,” Gavin responds. Tyson hands him a pair of scissors and Gavin starts to cut down Sin’s thigh, shredding his bloody jeans to expose his leg to the room.