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)
“Just punishment for what Otto did. She was a good fuck. Would have kept her around until he set our bikes on fire. A straight disrespect. No one fucks with us like that. There was only one thing left I could do. Thing was, it wasn’t just Otto involved, now, was it? It was the whole crew, and you were supposed to bleed out that night, too.”
His voice twisted to that low, disgusting thing again. A crooning as he turned the hilt of the knife. Pain splintered, and I struggled to remain conscious.
“But since you survived, our plans changed for you. Oh, the ways we were all going to have you. Figured we’d get rid of Otto’s crew first and then we’d get to keep you all to ourselves.”
I gasped and choked as he continued, “Otto showed just like we knew he would. Only you were there, weren’t you? You were there and you killed my brother. You killed the others.”
Hot air puffed from his mouth, hate and his own twisted grief. His nostrils flared as he leaned in close.
“I’ve been waiting to find you for so long. All of you. But you disappeared just as deep as I did. Had to since the cops had linked me and my boys to everything inside that warehouse. I had to leave all four of them there, lying in pools of their own blood, our fingerprints all over those drugs, set right out for the cops that showed after all that gunfire. Wasn’t about to lose my brother and get locked up because of you and Otto.”
He sighed an exasperated sound. “Been on the watch for years, no clue where you were hiding. I can only thank Otto for coming for us, thinking he was gonna finish us off. I got a hit that someone was searching for us, and I was able to track it back to this little town in the middle of nowhere. And surprise, surprise, here all of you were. Living lives like you deserved to have them. Probably couldn’t have done it without my Sienna here, keeping tabs on you. Getting me on the inside. Makes all of this so much easier.”
He jerked the knife free. Agony fractured through my body, and I knew he was only getting started.
“Now, I’m gonna kill you slow…drag it out so when I dump your body in Otto’s house, he feels the pain. So he knows exactly what you’ve gone through. Then I’m going to do the same to every one of them. One by one.”
He pressed the tip of the blade to my other thigh, and I held my breath, waiting for the fresh round of torment…when I heard it.
A swarm of power in the distance.
A gathering of strength.
Motorcycles.
Relief thundered as loud as the bikes.
My family was coming for me.
SIXTY-TWO
OTTO
River and I were already poised at the window and Kane was at the back door when the hum of motorcycles penetrated our ears.
It was our cue to move.
Knowing the second Gideon heard them coming he’d be set off balance.
Caught off guard and unprepared. Thinking he had only a minute to get ready before we came busting through the door.
And that was the minute we were using to our advantage.
But that was only going to last for a beat.
Acting while we had the chance.
River smashed the lock on the window with a rock. It gave easily, and he tossed it wide open. The second it was, I dove through the narrow opening, and I tumbled into the house, rolling twice before I pitched onto my feet.
I remained low, two guns drawn and pointed at the motherfucker who flew around Raven with shock and rage littered across his horrid, disgusting face.
River toppled in behind me, guns drawn, too.
Didn’t know if it was relief or rage that I felt when my gaze fell on Raven.
Raven who’d already been battered.
A stream of blood trickled from a cut on the side of her mouth, but what lurched my heart was the thick pool of it that had gathered on the floor beneath her from a gash on the top of her thigh.
But she was alive, and she looked at me with those inky eyes. Dragging me down into the depths. To her love and her belief. To her strength and her vulnerability.
To every complex, beautiful, perfect thing that she was.
I hoped mine conveyed everything that I felt inside.
That I’d live for her. Die for her. Shout for her. That I loved her with every fiber of my being. That she was the light that called me from the darkness, and I was ready to bask in it.
But I couldn’t relish in it since that bitch Sienna screamed as she jumped off the couch, and Gideon yanked Raven up from a chair. The ropes that had bound her had already been cut and fell to the ground, fucker likely doing it when he heard us coming and thought he was actually gonna drag her away.