Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
“I have a story to tell and not much time.” Denver glances around the room—the space I shared with Monty. “When I reached the tender age of eighteen, my coldblooded brother—Wolf, the name I fondly bestowed upon him in our youth—had our father commission my execution. A twist of fate spared me when I confessed to my father that same week that I would be a father. I got sweet, little Tia Langston pregnant, and that revelation stayed my father’s hand. He had just finished building a safe house in the hills of the Arctic Circle using my hydroelectric design to power it. My punishment? A life exiled within that desolate cabin, erased from the world I knew. My survival hinged on sporadic flights to Whittier, supply runs facilitated by a man known as Alvis Duncan. My father gave me a Turbo Beaver, which was logged and supervised. Then he had Tia Langston’s parents killed, changed her name, and moved her to an unknown location. Make no mistake. Rurik’s intentions were never rooted in affection for Tia or me. It was the bloodline he sought to preserve—his son and now his grandson, the continuation of our lineage.”
A war drum thunders in my chest.
Leo doesn’t move or blink. No one does.
On the screen, Denver twists his lips. “Unbeknown to my father, my efforts to locate Tia had borne fruit. I discovered her in Fairbanks, where she brought my son into the world, only to vanish again, emerging in California under the guise of Helena Weiss.” His smile is a grimace of twisted satisfaction. “No matter. My persistence paid off. I reclaimed what was mine when my son was three. I named him Leonid in homage to Port Lions—the cradle of his mother’s and my fateful encounter. But those first two years were rough. Whenever my nosy parents visited the cabin, I had to tie up poor Tia and Leo far away from the property and rid the rooms of their existence. My parents couldn’t know that I had brought them home with me in crates.”
“Melanie, can we pause it for a moment?” I ask, my voice calmer than I feel.
The video halts, freezing Denver’s smirk.
Turning to Leo, I search his bloodshot eyes. “Do you remember visits from Denver’s parents? Anything about him tying up you and your mother away from the cabin?”
“It’s all a blur.” He grips his nape. “There were times when things didn’t make sense. Moments of fear, of hiding, but it’s like trying to grasp smoke. I remember…fear. And confusion. But specific visits? It’s hard to say.”
“My parents died when you were five.” Monty braces his elbows on his spread knees and stares at his clasped hands. “It’s possible, with all the trauma you endured, your brain buried it as a way to protect…”
His words trail off as he tries to make sense of it. They’re all struggling, and it breaks my heart.
At my nod, Melanie resumes the video.
“During one of my father’s visits without my mother, he revealed that Kaya was with child, his child.” Denver cocks his head at the camera. “My disillusionment was profound. The irony that Rurik and Montgomery conspired against my life for my adoration of Kaya, only for Rurik to sully her with his seed. What an unfortunate situation. Unfortunate for him. On his next visit to check up on me, we met in Whittier during my supply run. A subtle manipulation of his aircraft’s mechanics sealed his fate. As for my mother, she was collateral damage, a mere shadow that never imprinted upon me.”
“God, just shut up already.” My stomach hurts just looking at him.
“In the wake of my father’s demise,” Denver muses, “I had more freedom. His goons still lingered, collecting flight logs and living out their contracts. Unfortunately, I never determined how many contracts were in play or how long they were hired to supervise me. Some were hitmen, contracted to execute me on sight if I broke my father’s rules after he died. I had to learn to bend those rules and sneak around them. I won’t bore you with details on how I tracked Tia Langston to California, shadowed Montgomery’s promiscuous activities, and hunted down Kaya while being watched by my father’s goons. Maybe I had another plane. Maybe I had a protege to sow confusion. Maybe it’s merely a matter of my superior intellect.” His gray eyes glimmer. “Since my father hid Kaya’s location from me, it took two years to find her. By the time I was twenty-five, the world was my chessboard, and I, the grandmaster, orchestrated the fates of pawns and kings alike. And Tia…” He makes a tsking sound. “Poor, irrational Tia tied me to my bed. So I buried her alive.”
Leo’s hand jerks in my grip.
“Want to pause it?” I ask.
His head gives a sharp shake.