Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“You don’t think that his body was taken by the Phantom, do you?” My voice rose barely above a croak. “Why would they do that?”
“Everything they’ve done so far has been to hide and protect themselves,” Wilder said. “Maybe it doesn’t help them either for his body to be discovered. You’ve been vocal about the awful things Owen, Wesley, Ashton, and Levi have done. If another one of them turns up dead so close together, the police will be forced to look into what connects them.
“They’ll look through their phones and computers. They’ll interview all their friends and family.”
“They might find evidence of the club,” I finished, “and of an unknown Phantom that bribed them to attack Winter.”
Rafael stretched out next to me, pulling me close. “We can’t prove that’s what happened, but it makes sense. It’s what I’d do if I was the Phantom and I got to that body before anyone else.”
A thought came to me. “Maybe we can prove it. Not if the Phantom took the body, but if there was a body. If Levi got up and walked away, then he dragged himself to a hospital or home to Mommy. It’s scary how good these club members are at tracking people down. For the right reward, they’ll find him if he’s somewhere to be found.”
“The right price won’t be difficult,” Wilder said, taking out his phone. “That’s the other thing we have to tell you. You offered up Saylor’s secrets less than twelve hours ago. Look how much you’ve made since.” Wilder showed me the screen.
My eyes about popped out of my head. “Did you accidentally add a zero to this! Wilder, this says thirty-six thousand dollars.”
“And there’ll be more by morning,” Rafael said. “This goes beyond the sophomores. I bet the first thing they did was call their mom, dad, sisters, cousins, and the kid down the street who used to feel them up in their treehouse. Getting their hands on something like this is big. You should’ve asked for triple, baby. They would’ve paid without blinking.”
I tossed my head, brows blown. “No doubt there’s some juicy things in there, but all I thought this would do is take the shine off her. People stop bowing and scraping real quick when they find out you caused their parents’ divorce, or arranged for you to be blindsided by your birth mother. Why is this big? Will it drag the Burkhardts down the line?”
“It’s not that big,” Rafael admitted. “You saw the chart. The Burkhardts own a piece of every Royal family. That doesn’t go away because Saylor used it to make their lives hell. But there is a reason she went out of her way to hide what she was doing. A boss may have power over her employees, but there’s zero benefit in treating them so badly, they all quit.
“The Burkhardts need the other Royals to run their empire. They’re the ones who donate big money to Senator Burkhardt’s campaigns. They choose his company to contract with over others. They’re his friends.
“Finding out his daughter fucked with them to her black heart’s content? Those campaign funds are about to dry up. CEOs are about to take their business elsewhere. And his friends...” He whistled. “They’re going to have some shit to say, and they won’t be nice about it. The Burkhardts had power, but they also had trust. That’s gone now.”
I was quiet taking that in. “But how angry can they get? How much could they strike back? If they piss the Burkhardts off, won’t they just kick them out of the Royal line?”
“Can’t,” Wilder said, chiming in. “You have to commit an act that nobody can come back from. Carving your initials in a girl’s forehead and protecting a rapist? That’s downright fucking scary. No one wants to be around or do business with a person like that. Even the Royals want his ass in jail.
“But it’s got to be on that level, because they need the other Royals to back them up. Right now, the Royals aren’t backing them up on anything.”
“Wow. So Saylor really is hurting from this.” I couldn’t see my smile. I couldn’t see my eyes. But the gleeful malice... it was fucking dripping from them. “Good.”
I sunk into the pillows and draped Lucien’s arm over me while Rafael found his way to my buttons. I very much liked that the Dumont brothers believed the best way to cheer me up were orgasms.
“We’ll get as many club members that we can on tracking down Levi. If he’s alive, he’s desperate and hanging on by a thread. He can’t get anything the Phantom promised him and now he knows I am willing to kill. He’ll tell me who it is because I’ll give him something that he now wants more than anything.”