Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
“You fucking moron,” Kala spat.
“Ben, Kenzie figured it out,” Taggart said with a grimness that sent a chill down Ben’s spine. “She knew what would happen shortly after she received the video. She didn’t fall for it at all, but she did make plans. She changed phones with her sister so when Huisman called, she was the one who answered. She was the one who offered herself up to save Lou. She told him she was Kala and that she would do whatever it took to save her best friend.”
For a second he could have sworn his vision dimmed, and he couldn’t make the words make sense.
Kenzie had offered herself up?
“He’ll hurt her.” The words sounded dumb on his tongue. “He wants to hurt Kala. He’ll kill Kenzie if he figures it out.”
“She’s excellent at pretending to be her sister. I know I don’t like to admit it, but when they decide to go all out, I can’t tell them apart,” Taggart admitted. “But he will hurt her. I don’t even know if she’s made it to the meet spot since she didn’t leave me a handy note.”
Kala’s hand swiped at her eyes, but she remained steady. “I let you read it. She didn’t tell me anything else. I don’t even know how she shut her tracker off. There wasn’t any blood that I could see, and we don’t have anything at The Garden that would disrupt the signal. She wore Lou’s suit. The nanite project. It can fuck with our trackers. Lou’s working on the problem.”
Kenzie was gone. Kenzie had walked out of her perfectly safe hidey-hole and into whatever Manny had planned for her sister.
He was going to be sick. He could hear Manny talk about how Kala might give him strong sons.
What the hell was she already going through? “How long?”
“She left six hours ago.” TJ looked like his light had dimmed. He was always sunny, but his fear for Lou weighed on him. “We were supposed to be resting, getting ready for this op. As soon as she knew we were all occupied, she slipped out. She even managed to override the security system.”
“She’s a multi-talented girl,” her twin said. “Now we have to hope her research helps us figure out where the hell she is. She was doing a deep dive on all of Huisman’s properties. I know she had some ideas about where he was trying to build the bombs. I have to think Huisman would take Lou there, and that’s where he would want me, too.”
Kenzie was gone.
She’d walked out because she’d known her sister wouldn’t want to live without Lou. Because her cousin loved Lou. Because she would desperately want to keep all those happy ever afters alive. Since her own hadn’t worked out. She was out there alone, and she didn’t know he loved her. She thought he didn’t, thought that he would always pick Huisman first.
She thought she was the expendable one. The one who could sacrifice for her family because she would be the least missed.
This was it. This ache in his heart and body and mind was love, and he’d been scared of it. Scared that if he loved her, he would lose her. Scared that if he loved her, she would end up hating him.
This was the punishment Manny had doled out, and he’d done it because he was jealous. He was jealous that his grandfather told him to be more like Ben. He was jealous as hell that Ben wouldn’t be his sidekick or some shit. It didn’t matter. He’d allowed Manny to win. He’d wanted to be the center of Ben’s world, and he didn’t care if that was a positive thing or an evil thing.
“We need to move out,” Taggart announced. He stared Ben’s way. “The only reason we’re here is Kenzie asked us to save you. She sacrificed herself for Lou and Kala and TJ and for you. I’m only willing to bring you back with us because I know she would want me to, and I’m going to honor my daughter. I should ship you back to Toronto right now.”
“I won’t go.” He forced himself to stand tall when all he wanted to do was beg. “If you won’t let me help, I’ll try to find her on my own. I won’t allow anything to stop me. I was an idiot. I love your daughter. She is the most important thing in the world to me. I will find her and then we’re going to hide and I will let you deal with Manny. I’ll go wherever she needs me to go, be whatever she needs me to be.”
Taggart looked to Kala, and the two seemed to have a silent discussion.
Kala shrugged. “If we don’t know where he is, he could cause trouble.”