Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“I know,” he says, utterly broken. But the cold, hard truth is, if the roles were reversed and the girls were his flesh and blood, he’d do the exact same thing. No obstacle on earth could stop him from saving those girls, and that’s exactly what I have to do now.
I wind through the streets, taking them way too fast for a residential area, but nothing will slow me down at this point. Izzy clutches the door handle, terrified of losing her life before we’ve even had a chance to try and save the girls.
As I turn the last corner before Mom’s home, the house of horrors finally comes into view. “I’m here,” I tell Knight, my heart racing faster than it ever has. “I have to go.”
“Don’t hang up,” he says. “Keep the phone on and the line clear in case you need me.”
“Okay.”
Nerves pound through my body, and as I reach Mom’s driveway, I come to a screeching halt behind the big, metal gates before putting my window down. I enter the code, pressing the buttons so hard that some of them get jammed, and within moments, the gates are peeling back.
The impatience is crippling as we wait for the gate to open, and when it reaches the halfway point, I hit the gas, darting my Honda to the left to sneak through the opening before flying up the long driveway, my gaze darting to the camera at the top of the grand entryway.
Izzy and I push out of the car, and as we hurry closer to the main entrance, Izzy starts looking around. “How the hell are we going to get in there undetected?”
“We’re not,” I tell her, pointing toward the array of cameras. “They knew we were here the second I stopped in front of the gate.”
“Fuck. So what do we do?”
I hand Izzy the phone that’s still connected with Knight as I crouch down and pick up one of the large potted plants that line the front of the home. “We make a fucking statement,” I tell her before launching the heavy pot straight through the same window I’d broken earlier in the week.
My mother’s scream is heard from deeper inside the home, and if I had to guess, I’d say she was in the living room. Izzy and I file in through the hole, crouching down, trying not to get cut by any stray pieces of glass.
“WHERE ARE THEY, MOTHER?” I call through the house, being obnoxiously loud, and letting her know that I’m not here to fuck around. I am getting those girls back, one way or another, even if it means getting bloody.
We weave through the massive house, heading directly to the living room. Knowing Elias could be here makes my blood run colder with every step.
Finally reaching the living room, we step through the grand entrance, and I’m not surprised to find my battered and bruised mother standing in the center of the room, a knowing smirk on her lips as the twins sit huddled together on the couch behind her.
They look uncomfortable, and while they physically appear unharmed, I don’t know what could have already happened that’s making them shake profusely. They obviously know that this is their grandmother. Their daddy introduced her as a safe person, but their expressions border on pure terror. Even at only four years old, their intuition is stronger than my mother’s.
I go to step toward them, only my mother shifts, halting my movements as she simply stares at me, a challenge thick in her eyes, and as she holds my stare, I realize this woman needs to be hospitalized. She’s sick in the fucking head. The only way to get to the twins is to go directly through my mother, but if she doesn’t move and hand them over peacefully, then I’ll have no problem making the injuries she sustained from her husband look like child’s play.
I shake my head, unable to figure out how the hell we came to this. “What do you think you’re doing?” I ask her. “Surely you have to know there’s only one way this ends.”
Mom just grins. “I told you, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep Elias.”
My brows furrow, and as my gaze flicks to the girls on the couch and then around this ridiculously furnished living room, I realize Knight was right. I’ve walked straight into a trap, bringing Izzy right along for the ride.
I don’t know how Mom knew that the girls were going to be with me tonight, but she knew that the moment she took them, I would throw caution to the wind and come for them. She brought me here, but why?
“Whatever you have planned, it’s not going to work,” I tell her, glancing toward the girls before waving them over. “Come on. I’m taking you back to my house for our movie night.”