Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“Let me out, big boy,” she coos, running her fingertips over mine.
My white-knuckle grip on the bars only tighten at her touch. I want to slap her for being so stupid, for trying to use sex to get something.
“Rayne Steele,” I utter her name.
Her lips part, in shock or something else, but she watches me with wide eyes. “How do you know my name?”
“My name is River Steele,” I tell her. Her brows furrow in confusion at my admission. “Our mother, she was a bad person.”
“I don’t have a mother. She died when I was born.” Her fiery confidence in what she’s saying has been solidified by years of lies.
“How old are you?” I question.
She sighs, lowering her gaze to our hands. “I’m twenty-one.” She’s right. I worked out the years that have passed since I last laid eyes on her. My sister hasn’t lived a normal life since she was too young to even remember our mother.
A ghost.
I allowed myself to believe she didn’t truly exist.
I convinced myself I’d imagined her.
When Drake’s father took me in as his own, I let my life become part of his game. He turned me into a pawn. He tortured me. Not with violence. No. He wasn’t that type of monster. He broke my mind. My will to live was shattered, and if it wasn’t for Drake, I wouldn’t have made it through.
Years I spent in love with a man who is so cold he can’t even show affection. But now that he has Caia and me, I hope that will thaw him. That he’ll once more be the Drake I recall from our younger years, before the darkness consumed him.
“You were taken, a long time ago, Rayne.”
She nods. She knows this. “They said I was special. That I would be made into the perfect toy. He kept telling me I was worth more than any of the others.”
“If I let you out of here, will you allow me and my friends to help you?” Perhaps I shouldn’t trust her, maybe I should leave her in here to simmer away in her fury and rage.
“Yes.”
“Promise me, little sister,” I implore her. Silence is thick in the air as I wait for her to vow that she’ll allow us to help. To do something to ensure she can attempt having a normal life. To live in the sunshine and not the dark.
“I do. Please, River,” she whispers, her big green eyes that match mine lift, and I’m certain she’s in pain. Not physical, but emotional. There’s nothing inside her anymore, and I can’t blame her for shutting it out. I did, too, for a long time.
She looks at me for a moment, offers me a smile, but I see it — the brokenness. Brought forth over so many years. It dances in her eyes, it tugs and pulls at her like a war which rages within her. I understand her. She’s just like me. A shell.
Fishing the key from my pocket, I unlock the cage we’ve kept her in and open the door. She steps tentatively over the threshold and falls into my arms. The softness of her body, the tremble that races through her makes me wrap my arms around her, holding her so close it’s as if she’s going to climb into me.
Her hair is matted, her sobs wrack through her, and I close my eyes to keep from tearing through the city on a wild rampage to kill every motherfucker in my path. Tonight though, tonight we’ll take them all down.
“River.” Dante’s voice comes from behind me. Dragging my gaze over to him, I take in his expression, and I know immediately something is wrong.
“What is it?”
“APB is out on Rayne. I’ve just gotten word from our man on the inside. She’s been reported as kidnapped by Amoretto,” he informs me.
“No. No, you can’t give me to him.” My sister starts shaking violently. Shoving away from me, she moves back into the cell, scuttling onto the bed and curling into a ball.
“Rayne,” I call to her, closing the distance between the bed and myself. “We’re not giving you to him. Tell me what’s wrong? Did he hurt you?”
She looks so small, so fragile as she cries on the bed. Her tiny frame even more delicate than before. Her fear is palpable. I feel it right down to my bones.
“Listen, little one,” Dante says. “We’re not sending you back there. You need to tell us what happened.” He sounds so confident, so sure of himself. Dante was always the brother I knew would survive this better than Drake. He wasn’t subjected to a lot that Drake and I were, but he knew what happened. He’d seen enough to know that his father was evil.
“He . . . That man is bad,” Rayne finally whispers. “His house has a room hidden in the walls.” The more she talks, the more my body vibrates with fury.