Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Pain pressed against the underside of her flesh, and she looked up at the microwave clock.
Five past midnight.
Unease churned in her guts.
Dereck promised. He promised he’d be home by eleven. Told her not to worry. That he was keeping his nose clean. That he’d never make a mistake like that again.
Brinley tried to steady herself. To find the hope of this life. Something good in it.
But she wasn’t sure how that would happen when she thought the loneliness might swallow her.
The ache consumed.
She missed her mother so much.
Missed her belief. Her faith. Her praise and her hugs and the soft way in which she looked at her.
“I’m trying, Mom. I’m trying so hard, and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
Her phone vibrated on the imitation granite countertop beside her.
Dereck.
Freaking finally.
Only her stomach dropped when she read what the text said.
Dereck
I’m in trouble. I need you to come and get me.
There was an address beneath it.
Sickness crawled through her like a dose of venom. She wavered, gaze rushing around the tiny kitchen like it might give her an answer. Take this away.
She quickly tapped across the screen.
Brinley
What’s going on?
Dereck
I’ll explain once you get here.
God, why did he continually do this to her?
“Mom, please help me.”
She waffled, then pushed from the stool and stomped to the door where she grabbed her purse and keys, then hurried down the steps to the parking lot below.
Her mother’s old car chugged and moaned before it finally sputtered to life.
She threw it into reverse and blew out of the lot, following the directions on her phone, winding her way into the scummiest part of town.
It wasn’t like they were living at the Ritz, but there was something about the darkened house that sent chills crawling through her being as she came to idle at the curb.
Dread twisted her stomach.
Trepidation and fear.
She fumbled through a text.
Brinley
I’m here.
Nothing. No response.
She itched, her knee bouncing a million miles a minute while she waited. Trepidation dragged across her skin like sharp, jagged talons.
Brinley
Hello?
Her phone remained silent.
Her head swiveled back and forth as she peered through the night, irritation lighting her up as the stilled darkness echoed back.
She should leave. Put the car into drive and get the hell out of there.
Every molecule in her body knew it.
But those words spun through her mind.
I promise.
They were the last ones she’d ever spoken to her mother. She’d been gone when she got back from work that night.
Trembling as hard as an off-balance washer, she clicked open the door and climbed from the car, sucking down steadying breaths as she crept up the cracked, pitted walkway to the dilapidated house.
The wooden boards creaked as she edged up the two steps, and her heart hammered as she moved to the door.
Her knock was slow and unsure.
Somehow, she knew to run. Could feel the evil seeping through the thin walls.
But when she turned to do it, it was too late.
The door opened, and she was being hauled inside.
A hand over her mouth as she was dragged into the darkness.
Her eyes wide in the pitch of the room. But she guessed she didn’t need to see them to know there were three of them.
She could taste the vileness coming from two other men who invaded from the corners of the room.
The one behind her murmured filth at her ear, a severing of her broken heart, knowing a part of her was going to die there even if they spared her life. “Seems your brother thinks he’s going to get away with not paying what’s owed to me. I think it’s time we taught him a lesson.”
THIRTY-FIVE
BRINLEY
My mind spun through the horror of memories while I lay there in the sanctuary of Silas’s arms. I wanted to give it all to him, but I wasn’t sure that I could force the details from my tongue.
I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know if I’d ever be.
But I had to give him something.
I wanted to.
My mouth felt sticky and dry, but I managed to force out, “Dereck owed these guys money…”
I guess those few words were loaded with enough implication that Silas felt the full force of them.
Because he flinched then pulled me closer, hazel eyes waiting. Searching my face.
“They used me to punish him.”
“Fuck. Brinley.” It was a brutal grunt. Every muscle in Silas’s body curled with aggression.
His arms were locked so tight, and I got the sense he was desperate to make me understand that I wasn’t alone.
Or maybe that he was willing to crush anyone who’d ever hurt me in my past.
Tears blurred my eyes. I hadn’t had someone care for me this way in so many years. And then? It’d been my mother. Which was a whole different experience from this.
I felt overwhelmed by it.
Struck.
Like I could maybe…let go.
“It’s okay, baby, I’m right here,” he murmured, then hedged, “What happened?”