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)
“What about cameras?” Thorin volleys. “It could prove she was in danger.”
“There aren’t any in this hall. It’s the first thing I checked. This hall is a blind spot and likely the reason Marston chose it.”
Thorin swears and then nods his reluctant agreement and looks at me warily. “Bane,” he huffs out. “I need to check Aurelia. I need to make sure she’s not hurt.”
I tighten my grip on her and give him a look to stay away.
“Bane,” Mine croaks a moment later. “It’s okay. I’m safe. Thorin and Khalil are safe.”
Safe.
Ezekiel thinks so too. And Seth.
I eye the men as they wait anxiously for me to allow them near her. It’s what Mine wants, so when Thorin steps forward, I don’t kill him. I stand motionless, holding Mine close as he gently turns her cheek and inspects her bloody nose. “What happened?” he asks her.
And then Aurelia recounts everything from before I woke up on the bathroom floor to after I pulled her off her uncle. Thorin and Khalil hang on her every word, their eyes filling with rage until the story is over and they’re silently wishing they could kill him all over again.
“We have to play this one by the book. We need to report this. It’s our best chance of walking away from this. Do you think you’re up for it?”
“I can do it,” Mine swears with a determined nod and then swings her brown eyes my way. “Bane, let me down.”
I slowly set her down, and then the four of us leave the hallway and return to the ballroom, where the screams of the guests rent the air once they see Aurelia painted in her uncle’s blood.
CASE CLOSED! AURELIA CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES
1 week ago
By Erica Danes | America’s Daily News
The Stardust Gala was a glittering assembly that ended in panic and chaos as Aurelia George, known to bring the drama wherever she goes, emerged shaken from a violent backroom encounter with her uncle, who reportedly barged into the women’s bathroom and attempted to kidnap the singer at gunpoint. You might have heard that Marston George is currently facing several federal indictments for fraud and that his niece may have been the one to blow the whistle. Luckily, Aurelia’s bodyguards were there to save the day. And though the reports of the scene are unnecessarily grisly, we appreciate the dedication to keeping America’s former sweetheart safe.
AURELIA
Scorched earth.
That’s what our lonely cliff looks like when the four of us step onto it again more than a year after the fire. The few trees that are still standing are blackened, the ground is charred, and the vegetation is sparse. The cabin, which used to mean home, is nothing but a ruin at the edge of the cliff.
Decades.
It’s what the forestry team that escorted us up told us it could take before the cliff and the forest surrounding it are back to what they used to be. The fire didn’t take it all. The night Isaac burned everything down, at least a dozen helicopters carrying water arrived to quickly put it out. The walls of water falling down from the sky were the last I saw of the cliff and Big Bear as we were being flown away.
But there’s life here too.
Because clinging to the charred trunks of the trees are spots of fuzzy green. Wildflowers are already beginning to spring from the ground along with some herbaceous plants and other green shoots. It’s going to be a long recovery, but we’ve been doing everything we can to help it along and return this home to the wildlife.
“We should get going before it’s dark,” Zeke suggests after he walks over to stand next to me at the edge of the cliff.
“You think he’s still down there?” I ask.
“Must be,” Zeke mumbles as he peers over the edge. “We would have heard about it if anyone had found the body.”
“Maybe some bears got him,” I muse. “I heard they like porridge.”
It takes Zeke a second to draw forth the image of what Isaac’s corpse must have looked like after a fall like that, and then he snorts at the storybook reference. He drops his arm over my shoulders, and I let him steer me away.
Thorin and Khalil are already waiting at the top of the hill for the hike down to where we left the ATVs. From there, we head to Little Bear where we plan to camp for the weekend. Nico, who is almost one, is back at the ranch with Khalil’s parents, who we also invited up with us for our return to the Cold Peaks. It took them a minute to get used to our quad plus the addition of Zeke’s alters, but their love for their son helped them push through their shock and discomfort. It also helps that they adore Nico and me.