Total pages in book: 331
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
Walking over to my desk, I remove the tracker from my pocket that Devin took out of my wife’s hip and drop it into the top drawer.
Then I make my way up to the birdcage. The elevator door opens, and I step out just in time to see Jessie exiting my bedroom with an empty wheelchair. “What’s wrong?” I rush over to him. “Eve okay?” I left her with Devin after he removed her tracker.
“Yes. Yes.” He nods. “After Devin applied a new tracker, he gave her some pain meds. Said she did a little too much today. He didn’t want her walking back to the room.” He smiles at me. “Mrs. Pierce is in bed.” Then he heads toward the elevator.
I push open the door to the dimly lit room. She’s got the TV on but the volume low. My wife is in bed, covers up to her chin, facing away from me. I unlace my boots, kick them off, and quickly get undressed, leaving only my boxer briefs on, and then gently crawl into bed with her.
She sighs, rolling over to face me, and I push back the hair from her face. Mrs. Pierce. I love the sound of that and will never get used to it.
Her lashes flutter open but quickly fall closed.
“How do you feel?”
“Tired,” she whispers.
Leaning in, I kiss her soft cheek. “Get some sleep, angel.”
“Kash?”
“Hmm?”
She opens her heavy eyelids and looks up at me. “I’m sor—”
“Don’t,” I interrupt her.
It’s not her fault. She had no clue what Adam was doing. I know my girl would have cut it out herself had she known it was there. I had it replaced with one of my own. After everything, I want to make sure I have eyes on my wife every second of the day.
Is it about control? A part of it, yes. But it’s mainly for safety. I haven’t seen a single Lady who hasn’t gone through something because of who they married. We’ve all got enemies, and I’ve got to protect what’s mine.
Looking over her face, I watch her sleep peacefully. She hasn’t woken up from any nightmares since she found her way back to me. I’m not saying she won’t ever have them again, but I’ll be here to remind her that I love her if she does.
EVERETT
We all stand outside in the cemetery by the gates of Carnage. The guys brought equipment in to dig before they started digging with shovels. Then another piece of equipment was used to remove the vault lid. Charlotte and I watch. Ashtyn hasn’t shown her face since Saint made her leave the basement. I’m not sure if that’s because she’s crying after Adam left or because she doesn’t want to be around us.
I look over the headstone. It’s as gorgeous as it is sad. It’s black with angel wings and reads Everett Sinclair Pierce, along with my birthdate and the day my husband thought I died. Across the bottom is engraved My life I vow to you.
A car pulls up, and I look over my shoulder to see both the driver’s side and passenger doors open, and two men step out. The ones I gave my statement to.
“Okay, Kashton. You’ve got ten minutes before I call this place in,” the detective states, coming to a stop and placing his hands on his hips. The younger one looks me up and down.
“Glad you could make it,” Kashton greets them.
“Yeah, well…you really didn’t give me a choice.”
“I’m going to solve your case.” Kashton smiles, and the younger cop snorts as if that’s impossible.
“It’s getting solved today, all right.” The detective’s eyes are on mine when he says it, letting me know he’s not leaving here without me in cuffs. I hope Kashton stabs him again. The only man who is allowed to handcuff me is my husband.
“Okay. We’re ready,” Haidyn announces.
I’ve never been to a funeral or watched someone be buried, but there’s a lot to it—when done properly. A cement vault sits below the casket that was sealed. It took them a minute to get into that. Then they had to break the seal of the casket.
Ryat and Sin jump down into it to help them out. Charlotte and I both step closer and look down into the grave that’s supposed to be mine. It feels weird, being out here knowing that my husband buried this body thinking it was me.
The casket opens, and I can’t see much because they’re all down in the grave. The plan is to roll her onto her side, place a tarp under her, and then lift her out. I didn’t interject, but I was very confused when they were discussing it.
Me or not, she’s dead. Why dig her up? What do you do with a corpse?
We step back as they lift her and drop the tarp onto the ground next to the now open grave.