Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
“Fuck! Hold her down!”
Looking over the side, I spot them below on the precipice where I’ve been waking up every other night for the last three months. With her.
Now Aurelia is the one who needs me, and she’s alone with three others, all of them robed, but only one wearing a mask.
Two of them have her pinned down as she struggles to get free.
Where the fuck is Khalil?
I finally reach the first sharp turn and sprint down the path leading to the precipice. To the cliff that I share with Aurelia. I’ll be damned if I let them hurt her on our spot or anywhere else.
The leader finally removes his mask to say something to her, and my steps slow as everything comes to a screeching halt inside my mind.
That face.
I know that face.
It’s haunted my memories.
“ISAAC!” I roar when I spot my father’s other son.
He turns, spotting me on the path, and smiles like he was expecting me all along. “Ah, Ezekiel. So it’s finally you.”
“Let. Her. Go.”
“Now, why would I do that when I have you right where I want you?” He crooks a finger, and because Aurelia is there too, I go.
I step onto the cliff jutting out from the mountain face and walk right past my brother as if he doesn’t exist. I feel his surprise and then I feel his fury, but none of that matters as I kneel to check on Aurelia.
She’s lying parallel with the edge of the cliff now, her head facing away from the rest of us, and when I turn it with gentle fingers, I see blood pooling from her temple. There are bruises all over her body, and she looks like she’s been through hell.
She’s also unconscious.
It’s a far cry from the last time I saw her less than twenty-four hours ago. She’d been soft and sweet, and high on endorphins.
Rising, I turn to face Isaac. “I’m going to kill you.”
Isaac finally drops the false charming persona and lets his anger show. “Do not forget who your master is.”
“She is,” I say, pointing to the unconscious girl at my feet, and then I let my crooked smile free. “When I let her be. She’s also the reason I’m no longer afraid of you, and you hurt her. That means you die.”
“Take a good look, Ezekiel. What do you see?” Isaac pushes the hood off his head, and I’m startled to see that he’s bald now. His hair is completely gone, which doesn’t make any sense given how much he used to be obsessed with it—always claimed it was his best feature. His vanity would never so much as allow him to dye it, and he’d rage for hours if his barber cut an inch more than he liked. There’s no way he’d ever shave it willingly. No way. And then I notice everything else I missed before—the sallow skin and lost weight.
Holy. Fuck.
He’s sick.
No. Not just sick.
Isaac is dying.
I wonder what his followers thought of that. No doubt he found a way to twist the truth and blame me. And that’s when I realize how much I do not care. From the looks of it, Isaac has been getting his due for a while now.
“When did you find out?” I ask curiously. Not that I give a shit.
“A month after you were kidnapped.”
Ten years. He’s been sick all of this time. “You mean rescued,” I correct. “From you.”
“Your life finally had meaning when you were with me, Ezekiel.”
“What do you want from me, Isaac?”
“I want you to take that gun, and I want you to shoot yourself. I am meant to live forever. You”—he points a finger at me—“were never even meant to be born.”
“Yes, I know. Our father cheated on your mother with mine, and she killed herself in front of you when she found out about me. That’s all very sad, but I stopped giving a fuck the first time you strapped me to that table. You stopped being a victim when you broke apart families and manipulated thousands into suicide because you just couldn’t accept that sometimes life isn’t fair. You’re a murderer, Isaac. A serial killer with an LLC. And I’m done with you.”
Behind me, I hear Aurelia begin to stir just as I see a lone figure stagger from the woods while clutching his side.
“You will never be done with me,” he snarls. “Not until you’re delivered unto Thanatos and I am delivered from Death. It is your duty as one of my blood.”
“You know,” I say when I hear the rapid whir of helicopter blades as the medevac approaches. “I was going to beat the shit out of you and maybe torture you for some karmic retribution, but it looks like fate already has that covered. And as for family, I’ve got that covered too. Every second I spend on you is a second less I have with them, so enough chitchat. Goodbye, Isaac.”