Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
I knocked at the glass, waiting a few seconds.
Nothing. No movement or sound.
Disquiet pulled through my chest, and I pressed my nose to the pane, peering inside as I knocked again.
Harder that time.
Nothing again.
Dread seeped slow, licking across my flesh and sinking into my stomach.
Throat growing thick, I dug into my pocket for the set of keys I kept. I found the right one and slid it into the lock, hand shaking as I turned it and opened the door.
Silence.
No alarm.
I could feel the concern emanating from Kane from across the street, and I rushed inside, gaze frantically jumping in every direction.
I searched up and down the two aisles, under the white wooden displays slotted with buckets of flowers, like there was some kind of chance that she was going to be hiding underneath.
I rounded the counter, eyes sweeping her workspace.
Empty.
My pulse started chugging hard in my veins, and I rounded back out just as Kane was bursting through the door.
“What’s going on?”
“Can’t find her.” I croaked it as I ran into the backroom, heart crashing in my chest. It was a small space, not a ton of places to hide, though I went for the cupboards anyway, ripping them open to find nothing inside. I ran to the small bathroom. The vacancy echoed back, and I shot back out, gasping, “She’s not here.”
It was a lament.
Horror.
Agony.
My brow pinched when I noticed the back door was slightly ajar, just resting on the frame. I bolted for it, whipping it open and stumbling out into the alley. Spinning around as I searched the emptiness.
“Raven!” I shouted, pain leaching into the single world. “Raven!”
Kane suddenly stumbled out behind me, his face ashen as he held up a sheet of paper. Same kind that had been wrapped around that rock.
You think you’re coming for me? I’ve been coming for you both all along. Now the bitch will bleed for what she’s done. For what you’ve done. Don’t be sad, you’re all next. – G
Kane and I blew into River’s driveway with the tires spinning, barely coming to a stop before we both jumped out. The front door whipped open at the same time, and River stormed out onto the porch. Wrath surrounded him in a halo, same as I could feel surrounding me.
“It’s fuckin’ Gideon,” I choked as I strode toward him, fully prepared for another attack because God knew I deserved it, though I didn’t slow my approach. “He has her.”
“What?” Horror pulsed with River’s question.
“Gideon.” His name stuck on my tongue, terror gripping me in a fist.
“How the fuck is that even possible?” he wheezed, hands going to his head as he attempted to deal with the blow. “That asshole has been missing for seven years.”
Gideon, Brek, and Lye had all been missing that whole time. I’d hunted them, and it’d taken me forever to sniff them out. The few clues I’d found not enough to fully unearth them.
I’d gone to Cash when I’d gotten desperate.
Played it a game, though he’d known all along.
He’d given me what I’d needed to take care of Brek and Lye, but Gideon had remained elusive.
Disappearing without a trace.
And now he was here.
“Need to tell you something,” I grated, pushing the words out around the razors that lined my throat.
River glared at me, cagey as all fuck, though he was uttering low, “Tell me what the hell is going on, Otto. No more fuckin’ lies.”
I scraped my fingers through the short pieces of my hair, barely able to speak, just knowing I had to get Raven back. Bile gathered in my throat. “I’ve been hunting them,” I admitted, words gravel.
Shocked confusion knitted his brow. Alarm rushed in behind it. “What do you mean, you’ve been huntin’ them?”
“Couldn’t let them get away with what they did to Haddie. With what they did to Raven. Ferreted out two of them. Brek and Lye. Put them in the ground.”
“You did what?” His disbelief was abraded, the full scope of what I’d been doing becoming clear.
I pressed on. “Couldn’t find a trace of Gideon.”
But he’d obviously found me.
River blinked while Kane buried a curse in the fist he pressed to his mouth like it was the only thing that would keep the torrent of his anger from rushing out.
“Without us?” River pressed. “Without letting us in on it? You’re supposed to be our family, Otto.”
My head shook before the confession started spilling out, seven years of grief and torment woven in the words.
“He killed my sister, River. He stole the one person I was supposed to protect. I couldn’t drag you all into it. Not when I was doing it out of revenge and not for Sanctum. Not when it was done out of hate and not for the sole reason of protecting someone. It was on me to seek justice for her. For them.”