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)
The guy sneered, though he lifted his hands and shouted, “Want to see Kai.”
That was all it took for me to know. For my own hatred to blister like a forest fire through my veins.
A wave of protection rose over me, and I curled an arm tighter around Kai, somehow managing to grab Elena’s hand with the other.
“We need to go.” The whispered frenzy of my voice finally breaking her out of the trance.
I was taken over by the urge to flee. To protect. To break the cycle the way Silas was so desperate to do.
I wouldn’t let that bastard have him, either.
I didn’t take them back into the office.
I wanted to get them as far away from this asshole as possible.
So, I rushed with haggard breaths around the side of the shop, hauling Elena along behind me as I balanced Kai in one arm.
My single destination the house tucked at the back of the property.
Toward that structure that felt like a haven.
Like no one would have the chance to get to any of them there.
I didn’t follow the gravel road. I hit the path that cut through the cover of trees since it was about half the distance.
Brush and shrubs rose up beneath. A maze of woods that hugged like shelter.
I did my best to run with Kai in my arms.
He was still asleep, and he bounced against my chest, my efforts slowed by my heels that kept sinking into the soft earth.
I finally kicked off the hindrance and dropped onto my bare feet.
Then I ran. Ignoring the pricks of sticks and rocks that cut into the soles of my feet.
None of that mattered.
The only thing that did was getting them to the house.
Elena let go of my hand so I could hold onto Kai better and raced up to my side, a blur of tears on her face.
“Silas won’t let him get to him,” I promised on a rasp, a hand cupping the back of Kai’s head, pouring that same oath into him.
Elena choked with a nod, and I ignored the sharp bite of pain as my foot was pierced by a particularly sharp rock, sucking it down with the anger that had come at me from out of nowhere.
I wondered if Meems could feel it. If she’d felt the horror strike in the heavens because she was shuffling out onto the porch at the same second as we broke out of the thicket.
Dread and ferocity on her face.
A shotgun held across her body.
We barreled up the steps, and she lowered the gun so Elena could throw herself into her arms.
Her grandmother so clearly her safe place, while Meems gave me a knowing look over her head.
TWENTY-FIVE
SILAS
“I’d turn around, get back in your truck, and go back to where you came from unless you want to find yourself buried on this property.” I growled it, jutting my chin toward the hunk of metal sitting alongside the road.
My insides a riot of rage and bad fucking memories.
It was the same fucking truck.
It would have brought me to my knees if I hadn’t been driven by hate.
Hate for the man responsible for everything.
None of this would have happened if it weren’t for him. Not the tragedy nor the spiral.
He laughed a callous sound, sneer ripping between me and Brody. “Came here for what’s owed to me.”
I tried to stop myself, but there was nothing I could do but let my attention skate over my shoulder, praying Elena would do what I told her and take Kai back inside.
Terrified she wouldn’t since I saw the look on her face.
The way she’d gone cold, color draining from her face like the last drops of blood from a body.
Her own traumas had begun right here with this piece of shit, too.
Surprise nearly reared me back when I saw Brinley holding Kai, and she was dragging Elena along behind her with her other hand.
Hustling them away and out of sight.
I couldn’t even grasp the feeling that rose up in me then.
Complex and complete.
Chest tightening and stomach swimming.
She was protecting them.
I turned back to the scum standing at the edge of my property, hands curled into fists to stop myself from reaching out and choking the life out of him.
That one memory spinning through my brain on a circuit was his only saving grace.
It’s your heart. It’s your heart.
But I wasn’t feeling so graceful right then. The sight of him enough to stamp out that last bit of humanity.
Knew Brody had none of it. Not with the way every muscle in his body was strung like a bow.
An arrow set on a course to impale.
He was barely old enough to remember, and it was this shitbag who’d robbed him of the opportunity for those memories.
I cocked my head. “And what is it you think is owed to you?”