Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78350 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78350 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
The moment they arrived, Venom saw the lights were off. It was a little after nine, and David had rambled that he didn’t get a lot of sleep, and also something about hating the dark, and he liked to keep the light on.
Venom gave the warning to Maverick that something wasn’t right, and he pulled out his gun. He looked around the street, and there were no discernable signs that anyone was here. He wasn’t happy with what he couldn’t see. Looking up and down the street, Maverick was a few feet away from him.
“I don’t like this,” Venom said.
“Maybe he went to bed early.”
“He doesn’t like the dark.”
“An odd thing to say, but okay, I guess not everyone is happy with the dark,” Maverick said.
“Something’s not right.”
They made their way up the driveway, and that was when Venom saw the little sheet of paper, with the words, Come inside.
“That’s not spooky at all,” Maverick said.
The door was ajar as well. Venom waited to see if he could hear anything, but there was no sound. He pulled out his cell phone, brought up the flashlight, and checked the doorway for any potential traps. David was a scientist, but he could have been playing a part to keep his ass alive. There were no wires, nothing waiting to stab them in the back or hurt them.
He took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. The house was quiet. No lights were on, and he reached out to flick the switch, and the house didn’t have any power.
Maverick followed him in, and Venom shined the light and on the floor, he saw the footprint. Not in mud, but in blood, along with a single finger, pointing.
“That’s a finger,” Maverick said.
Venom knew it was, and he had a sneaking suspicion they were going to discover it was David’s finger. They followed the eight fingers, and two thumbs, as it led toward the kitchen, and there was a lot of blood. All of David’s fingers were gone, and in the kitchen, an arm continued the path.
The kitchen was covered in blood, and Venom was shocked by the sight. He didn’t need to see the rest, but he knew the path well, there were different body parts, a kneecap, even a foot. They had taken the man’s eyes and his penis, and used it as a little map to where they had placed David’s body. Maverick gagged, and Venom couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What was left of David was on display as if it was something to be proud of, but that was not all.
From the moment Venom had called him, the Karamazov had found him, and in the dining room was a nightmare, displayed as a family dinner scene. David’s family—the ones he’d been scared for—were all there, but their body parts had been removed and were displayed as if they were about to eat them.
This was Karamazov. They knew their safe house. They had known where David was, and that meant none of them were safe.
Their days were well and truly numbered.
Chapter Sixteen
“Twenty-five years ago, I was the family disappointment,” Gus said. “All of my brothers, three of them, as well as two sisters, were only interested in serving the Kristoff Cartel. I didn’t want to be a crook. I wanted to serve my country, find a wife, settle down. I didn’t participate in anything to do with the Kristoff Cartel, but my father demanded that all his sons be strong. They had to be capable, so I was trained, and when the time came for me to be initiated, and that initiation required me to make my first kill, I refused.”
Morwenna looked toward her father. “Is your name Gus Graves?”
“My real name is Artemis Moseley. Your mother’s name was Kallypso,” Gus said. He pressed his hands together and leaned forward. “You need to understand that I had no real connection to the cartel, and my father wanted to be some kind of leader. He wanted to have his own state, he wanted wealth, he was hungry for power. I was not. So, when I refused to make my first kill, I was cast out, banished, and I joined the army. I served my country, and during that time, I met your mother.”
She looked between her parents as they reached for each other and held hands. Even now, they reached for each other to be strong. She couldn’t help but feel a little envious for the way they were together. They clearly loved one another and no one could take that away from them. They were as tight now as they were all those years ago.
“The way we met,” Willow said. “Everything we have told you about our meeting—I was working behind a bar, and there were a couple of college kids giving me trouble—all of that is true. We didn’t lie to you.”