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)
My voice snagged on the last, sure he’d know exactly what I meant.
His sister was included, and my hatred had extended to what they’d done to her.
He winced, and I continued, voice low as I angled his way, “Going behind the club was wrong. I know it. I should have just told you, but I couldn’t risk getting you involved. Know you’d be on your bikes in a second flat. You’d all moved beyond it, beyond that life, beyond the immorality and wickedness, and I’ve been fucking stuck there.”
I sucked in a distraught breath.
“Stuck seven years ago. In that moment when I failed my sister. In that moment when I’d tried to retaliate but instead it was me who was about to be buried. In that moment when I was saved for God knows what reason except to be able to take these monsters down.”
My chest tightened with the onslaught of emotions. With the truth that had come to fruition over the last month. One that I’d been avoiding for so long but wouldn’t ignore anymore.
“In that time when I broke your sister’s heart because I thought it was the right thing to do. Because I thought I couldn’t give her the life she deserved. Because I thought I wasn’t good enough for her. And fuck, I’m not…don’t think there’s a man alive who’s good enough for how amazing she is, but I’m going to spend every one of my days trying to be. Trying to be good enough for her. Trying to give her that life she deserves. Whatever she wants it to be.”
River dropped his gaze to the porch. Tension wound through every muscle in his body.
Could barely swallow as I forced the words up my throat. “I love her, River. I love her so fuckin’ much. I’ve fought that love for seven years, and the only thing it did was hurt her, and you can hate me for it, but I refuse to fight this love for a second longer. We’re going to get her back, then I’m never going to let her go.”
I felt the weight of Charleigh’s presence when she stepped into the doorway. Tears blanketed her cheeks, and she hugged herself across her middle.
“We have to,” I reiterated, looking at her, a silent promise that I wasn’t going to let this bastard hurt her.
I had to get to them. Find her. Stop it the way I hadn’t been able to do before.
Desperation streaked through my veins when my cell rang, and I yanked it from my pocket. My lungs closed off when I saw it was Cash.
I fumbled to answer it, praying to God he had news as I pressed it to my ear. “Please tell me something good.”
“Think I got a lead.”
“What is it?”
“Been hunting for anything on Gideon since you asked me for information.” The repercussions of that request hung heavy in the dense air. Echoes of his warnings of what my thirst for revenge might do.
“I finally got a possible hit. The spelling of his last name was different, but the birth date and social security number matched. It was a marriage license to one Sienna Perdue. I was able to locate a picture of her. It’s from about five years ago, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s the same Sienna who met Raven at the club last night. I thought she looked familiar, but I didn’t make the connection until this morning when I got the call that Raven is missing.”
“Oh fuck,” I wheezed.
River angled down, listening the best as he could, and Kane came up on my other side, also inclining his ear.
“She rented a house over on Pine. Way on the outskirts of town,” Cash continued. “Saddle up. I have the address incoming. Theo and I are already on our way. And this time, this motherfucker is going to feel the wrath of us all. Of this entire family. The way it’s supposed to be.”
He ended the call.
A crash of hope and despair ripped through me.
A drive of ferocity and hate and the love that shined so fuckin’ bright.
River looked at me for a beat before he stretched out his hand with the stacked Ss tattooed on the back and muttered, “That’s fuckin’ right. That’s what this club does. It’s what this family does. Now let’s go get your girl back.”
SIXTY-ONE
RAVEN
Rope bit down on my skin where they had my wrists and ankles bound to a hard wooden chair that had been pulled out from a small dining table.
It’d been placed in the middle of the kitchen.
Plastic covered the floor underneath, and duct tape sealed off the whimpers that groaned in my mouth.
Gideon loomed ten feet away, a demented smile on his face as he studied me with a hunting knife dangling languidly from his right hand.
Sienna was on the couch in the living room, appearing to be bored as she flipped through a magazine. Completely indifferent. Her friendship fabrication and deceit.