Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
This family is multiplying. The Marino instalove curse has now been passed down to us. It's what happened for all the Marino men and my mom. Supposedly, when we find our one, we fall immediately. I wasn’t truly convinced until it happened to my brother, Jax. He was the first to go. Didn't see that shit coming. I thought maybe in time he would find someone, but it happened in a blink of an eye. I'd bet anything that Naomi and I will be the last ones standing.
We're different. Always have been. I can't explain it; I just know it, and so does everyone else. It's part of why I'm closest to my Uncle Ronan. He's the most like me. We have a taste for blood, and we're way too fucking good at bleeding a person dry until we've gotten everything we want from them.
That's why I'm the one on my way to the hole. A place no one ever wants to go. There hasn’t been a person that has ever gone in alive and come back out the same way. Unless you are a Marino. My phone goes off again, and I hit the answer button on my steering wheel.
"Eros." I answer.
"Do you know who your target is?" Target? That's what we're calling this now? Is that a polite way of referring to a victim? Is Mac getting soft on me? She’s my cousin, who also happens to be a super hacker computer genius. One that can get you most information with a few keystrokes.
“No, I haven’t fully read all the details.”
“Yeah, because I don’t have a lot on her.”
“Her?” That gives me pause. I can’t say I’m opposed to getting information out of a woman. Anyone can be a horrible human. That includes females. The thing is that typically it is men that are fucked in the head. There have been a few women who caused issues in the past few years, but that was more in Naomi’s territory.
“Yeah, she was kidnapped with Kinsley. They’re friends from school.”
“And you think this schoolgirl is involved in all of this?” If anything, someone was using her, and she doesn’t really know shit. Not that it matters. Everything has been handled. We might as well just toss her back.
“We’re not sure. There have been red flags, and I can’t figure out who the fuck she is.” Mac is practically shouting the last part.
Everyone has a digital trail these days, and Mac can always find it. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re the prodigy child of one of the world’s best hackers. If she can’t get a digital pulse on this girl, then that’s a huge problem and this trip to the hole is necessary.
“How can there be nothing on her?” That’s not possible, especially if she’s enrolled at Golden Prep. You have to have a lot of fucking money, be connected to a powerful person, or be a genius to be able to step foot into that school.
"There is one record, but I don't think it's real. It's all been made up. The print appears old, but it's not. Whoever she is, including the people she lives with, it’s not real. It looks scary real. Like, I double-checked my shit because that's how good it is. But it’s not fucking real. She's not real, and I'll die on this hill. I don't care that Kinsley says she's good or whatever."
"Kinsley isn't one of us."
"Hey, she will be, but that's for another day."
"I only meant she can't read people. She's normal." The girl grew up with two fancy-ass doctor parents. This is all new to her, and she's gotten a crash course.
"Right? I mean, she did fall in love with Jax." Mac laughs at her own joke. Jax isn't even there to hear it. At this point, he's likely got Kinsley back home and tied to his bed so she can never leave or be kidnapped again.
That's terrifying, if you ask me. And I don't fucking scare easily. If ever.
To have someone in your space all the time sounds like your own personal hell. You'd have to wear a mask all the time, so they don’t see all of your parts. Then, maybe it's only me that does that. There is a façade you present to the world. I know I have to use one to blend in at events. I'm not particularly good at it, either.
"Just find out who she is. Can you do that?" Mac asks.
"Give me thirty minutes," I tell her. I'm already pulling up to the hole.
It's not far from the Marino estate, which everyone calls the farm.
The hole was built long ago. It is what it sounds like. It's in the middle of the woods, almost like a bunker.
I step out of the SUV, walking over to the hidden landing and pulling the fake grass covering off before entering in the code. The lock pops, and I spin the top, pulling it open. I glance down into the darkness.