Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 113996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Alex was good at finding his enemy’s Achilles heel, and he’d just used mine against me. His words jabbed into my conscience. Shame. Remorse. Guilt. They spread through me, making me falter, making me weak.
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing his words got to me. But my emotion was too strong to hold back.
“I was just a child when you turned me into a killer. You made me exactly what I became.”
An evil smirk curled on his lips. “It’s so much easier to live with your sins when you can blame someone else for them, isn’t it, Taylor?”
“It’s the truth. You took a broken young woman and made her into a fiend. Made her crave your acceptance and love, only to make her do the unforgivable in order to get it.”
“I gave you the kind of life people could only dream of,” he growled.
“You made me a monster!” I yelled.
For a moment, I thought I saw a flicker of remorse on his face. But then it was gone and I realized I was wrong. Alex wasn’t capable of remorse because he was a psychopath.
“You have nothing to gain from pursuing this, and everything to gain from walking away,” I said.
Alex shook his head. “I should’ve known you wouldn’t understand the concept of loyalty.”
“The Kings of Mayhem will destroy you and everything you’ve built. I’ve seen how big they are, Alex. You’re outnumbered. Don’t do this, don’t risk everything for Gimmel. Walk away.”
Backed into a corner, an evil glint caught the light in his eyes. “You underestimate me”.
“No, you underestimate the Kings of Mayhem.”
His eyes darted to the doorway where Bull suddenly appeared. Without warning, he grabbed his gun off the counter and fired it at Bull.
But I fired mine too.
I was quicker.
I was also a better aim.
And I shot Alex.
Right through the heart.
BULL
Alex was dead.
“Are you okay?” I asked Taylor.
She stared at me, wordlessly, as she tried to process what she’d just done.
I looked down at Alex lying dead on the floor, a red stain spreading across the tiles.
Taylor had hit him right in the heart.
“I’m going to find Martel. You get Noah and meet me back at the car.”
She nodded but said nothing, too stunned by Alex’s death. But as I turned to leave, she stopped me. “Be careful, okay?”
I paused, taking her in, wondering if it was the last time I was going to see her.
She would get Noah to safety. I had no doubt.
But I wasn’t so sure Martel was going to go down without a fight.
I moved quietly through the mansion, stealthily, ready to take out anyone who got in my way.
He was close. I could feel him. And I was like a hunter stalking his prey. Every cell in my body alert. Every nerve and fiber buzzing with anticipation. Every step taking me closer to the end game.
This would all be over soon.
I would have my revenge, and Martel would take his place in hell.
A yelp out of place in the silence of the big house drifted down from the stairs winding up to the second story.
Noah.
I increased my pace up the staircase, but stopped when I rounded the corner and found Gimmel Martel waiting for me. He had Noah. One arm was hooked around his neck. The other held a gun aimed at the kid’s shoulder.
Fuck.
“I’ll shoot him,” he warned, pulling Noah closer.
I put my arms up in surrender. “Let the kid go.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It’s me you want, not him.”
“The kid is staying where he is, now drop it,” he demanded, gesturing to the gun in my hand.
I did as he asked, slowly bending down to place the weapon at my feet.
When I straightened, he smiled smugly. “At last.”
He was pleased with himself. His lecherous eyes lit up with delight, and his fat jowls reddened with the sudden rise of his heartbeat. He had the upper hand, and he was almost ejaculating with joy.
“At last, indeed,” I growled.
He nudged Noah forward until they were standing right in front of me so he could press the muzzle of his gun to my forehead.
I’d had had plenty of guns pointed at me in my lifetime. But the only time one had been pointed at my head was when I had placed the muzzle against my own temple. Back then I had wanted to die. But not today.
I didn’t want to die.
I thought about my family and my club. I thought about what my death would mean to them, and what would happen once my body was in the ground and I was no longer around. And then I thought about Taylor and Noah, and what it would mean for me to die before I even had a chance to begin a life with them. I thought about all of the unsaid things. All of the things undone. All of the feelings left unfelt.