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)
“Disrespectfully, Mother, you can get fucked.”
I keep going, needing to get the girls out of here and make a break for it, when something flashes in my mother’s eyes, a desperation that makes my stomach clench. I shake my head, horror ripping through me, and without a second of hesitation, I shove the girls as hard as I can, sending them sprawling to the ground. Izzy throws herself toward them in the same instant that the gun rings out.
BANG! BANG!
Screams rip through the air, and I frantically search the girls for blood, my whole body shaking with terror when I see Izzy at my feet, clutching her chest.
“Harper,” she breathes as blood begins seeping through her fingers, staining the front of her unicorn pajamas.
“No,” I gasp, immediately dropping to my knees, my hands pressing over her chest, and I watch the blood flood over my fingers in shock. “NO! No, no, no. Hold on, Izzy. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”
“Harp . . . Harper,” she pants, her breath becoming shallower, losing too much blood too fast.
My head snaps up, gaping at my mother in shock. “What have you done?”
“I . . . I . . . I didn’t mean to,” Mom says, horrified. “I just meant to scare you. You were going to leave, and I . . . It just happened. I didn’t think . . .”
Tears streak down my face as the twins see the blood pooling beneath Izzy’s body and howl with fear. They move into me, trembling and crying, needing comfort. They need me to tell them that everything is going to be alright, but I can’t. I can’t be what they need right now.
Izzy’s eyes begin to soften, tears staining her cheeks and falling into her hair. “I don’t want to die,” she tells me, her voice weak as agony tears through my chest. “I’m not ready to die.”
“You’re not dying, Iz. You’re going to be okay. Knight is on the way. He’s going to make everything okay.”
“Can you tell my mom that—”
“No,” I tell her. “You’re not saying goodbye. We’re going to get through this. We’re going to be okay.”
The girls are wailing in my ears, not understanding what’s going on, when a shadow casts over me, and my head snaps up, realizing Mom is hovering over us. She somehow made it across the room without me noticing. Then, before I can even tell her to get away, she grabs both of the girls, pulling them away.
“NO,” I scream at her, my throat hurting with the raw terror. “GET YOUR HANDS OFF THEM. YOU CAN’T HAVE THEM.”
Mom keeps going, dragging them away from me as they kick and scream, but with my hands braced against Izzy’s chest, the only thing keeping her alive, I have no choice but to stay on my knees as the tears whip down my cheeks. “I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS,” I scream at my mother, watching with a profound helplessness as she disappears around the corner, taking them out of my sight for the second time tonight. “I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU.”
A soft, fluttering touch brushes over my hand, and I glance down at my best friend, her bloodied hand resting over mine. “I’m sorry,” she whispers as the color steadily drains from her skin. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” I sob, my whole world burning to ashes around me. “Don’t go. Please, don’t—”
“Well, well. Mae delivered after all.”
My head snaps up, but before the scream can even tear out of my chest, Elias grabs me, yanking me away from Izzy. “NO!” I roar, frantically clawing at his grip. Kicking. Screaming. Begging. But as he clamps his arm tight around my body, I’m left defenseless, and I can only stare back at Izzy, the last of her lifeblood spilling onto the Italian stone flooring as Elias drags me away.
40
KNIGHT
Terror fills me as I listen to the sound of my brother dragging Harper away from Izzy through the phone, my chest heaving with the unknown. How could I have let this happen? I should have fought harder. Should have begged her not to go into that house. And now Izzy . . . fuck.
I’m too far away. I’ll never make it in time.
They’ll both be long gone before I even hit the driveway.
Ace follows me in the SWAT truck with my team as we tear through the streets of Blackstone, and despite the deafening noise coming from my revving engine, all I hear is the heavy silence from the phone, every passing second only making it worse.
I try to keep calm, trusting that everything will be alright, but Harper’s agonizing screams tear through my mind, etching themselves into my brain for all eternity. The gunshots. The twins wailing. Harper’s terror-filled gasps as she realized her friend had been shot. But the agony in her tone as she begged Izzy not to leave her will forever scar me.