Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“But there’s no way a document like that would hold up in court,” Peyton says, protesting the same thing I did once upon a time.
I break out of her embrace. “Do you think he cares about what’s going to hold up in court? He stabbed a cop, Peyton. At the courthouse. He has judges and police in his pockets. Whatever it is he wants out of this marriage, he’s going to get it.”
Even as I say it, it seems so far away. That courthouse thing. It feels like it happened in a faraway universe. Along with so many other things. They might as well have happened to someone else, and I have a hard time figuring out why that’s such a bad thing.
“So you know what we need to do, don’t you?” Peyton asks, breaking my thoughts.
“Yes, we need to run.”
She gives me a look. “No.”
“What?”
“We need revenge.”
I draw back and repeat in a high octave, “What?”
“You’ve tried running, remember? And if what you say is true, that everyone is in his pocket, who are you going to run to?”
“Your family,” I reply, my heart racing now. “Your brother will kick their ass. Didn’t you just say that yourself? All we need to do is somehow get the message to him that we’re being held here without our consent. Or”—my eyes go wide as I continue—“he’s going to call you tomorrow, right? And if you don’t pick up, he is going to get freaked out and sooner or later, he’s going to figure out Graysons are behind it all. So if we really think about it, we probably don’t even have to run. We don’t need to do anything but sit here and wait for your brother to come rescue us.”
“But don’t you see,” Peyton says urgently. “My family is the same. Do you think my brother is any better than these Graysons? Do you think my father is any better than all these monsters in this house? They’re all criminals, every single one of them. And why do you think you’re here in the first place? Because of them. Because of their decades-old feud.”
“Look,” I sigh. “I know. I know they’re all the same—”
“Yes, they are and I’m not taking a thing from my family. Not a single thing, Riri, including their help that probably will come with strings attached anyway.”
She’s right. I know she’s right. It’s not as if it hadn’t occurred to me. That Turners are as bad as Graysons. Or that her brother won’t help us without trying to further his own agenda with Peyton. I know he’s been trying to get her back to Wildfire for ages now. He wanted her to go to college in Black Rock instead of staying in Bozeman. He’s also increasingly trying to butt into her dating life, which is why she hates picking up his weekly calls.
But this is bigger than that. The stakes are much higher in this case.
“But Peyton,” I say, trying to convey the seriousness of this situation, “these people are dangerous. He is dangerous. We need to figure out a way to get out of here, okay? We have to. Before it’s too late. Before something bad happens. We need to be smart here. We—”
“And we will be,” Peyton assures me, cutting me off. “We’ll be smart and we’ll wait. Until the time is right and then we strike.”
“What, strike with what?”
There’s a glint in Peyton’s eyes that I don’t like. It’s diabolical; I’ve seen it before, and it always ends up causing more trouble than anything else. I open my mouth to tell her exactly that. That I don’t like the look in her eyes and that she really needs to reconsider, but she speaks first: “I don’t know yet but I’m going to figure it out.”
“Peyton—”
She squeezes my shoulders. “For now, just follow my lead. I’m going to find a way.”
“But—”
“Do you trust me?”
I look into eyes as blue as mine, and even though I have a very bad feeling about this, I know nothing I say will deter her. If history is any indication, I know that already. I have countless stories about her reckless behavior, and while as I said, the stakes are much, much higher here, there’s no way that past events will be an incentive for her to stop. I don’t know what will make her stop, but I know arguing right now is not the solution.
So I say, taking a deep breath, “Yes.”
Peyton looks at me for a second. “I’ve taught you well because I almost believed you.”
“I—”
“It’s fine. I’ll prove it. You’ll see.”
Before I can say anything else, she springs up from the bed and skips to the door. She pounds on it with her fist as she calls out, “Hello? Anyone out there, especially, you evil, criminal Graysons who are keeping us here against our will? We’re done braiding our hair and plotting your murder. Get in here so we can talk.”