Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“He’s right,” King added. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you for killing my best friend in cold hard blood, but this also raises some questions, why would he ask you for that?”
“I’m out.” I stand up. “I told you what I was allowed to say.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Ash grabbed my arm. “By who? God?”
I jerked free. “By Junior, you dumbass, now send some extra men to protect my ass, stop making fun of my new boat, and give me one of your best for Bella. They’ll come after both of us before they go after everyone else.”
“What? Like there’s a line now?”
“Guess whose name is first,” I whispered, “and you win a prize.”
I pointed at the white horse tattoo on my wrist. “After all, when a family line is cleansed, they don’t stop at the leaders, do they?”
The room fell silent.
King stood. “Fine. You got your men, now give us more answers.”
I yawned. “Yeah, yeah, I have to spend more money before that happens.”
“Because why?” King laughed. “You have everything you could possibly want.”
“Because…” I tossed him the bloody towel. “It’s the only way to hurt whoever’s trying to hurt us within the De Langes. The Five Families only gave a stipend, and it’s going to go to hell if I spend it all.” I grinned. “Which I intend to do.”
“…can’t swim, but has brains, truly fascinating,” Ash said under his breath. “Should we get him water wings for Christmas?”
“On that note.” I flipped them both off. “Keep me alive, mm kay, you need your horse.”
“Sadly,” Ash said under his breath.
“Heard that,” I said.
“SADLY!” King repeated. “For the people in the back.”
I smiled despite feeling sore and like shit and went in search of Bella. By the time I stumbled back to the brunch table, it was empty except for Trace, her mom.
“Hey, where’s Bella?” I asked.
She frowned. “She said she was going to go looking for you?”
“She found me,” I said slowly. “But started walking back here.”
Nixon chose that horrible moment to come outside. “Hey where’s Bella? She left her phone and purse, and nobody can find her.”
Shit.
I broke her.
She cried.
She thinks her life is over.
I thought about it.
About us.
And I ran.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Enemies don’t jump out from behind the darkness, they often boldly walk at you in the light. —King Campisi
Bella
I fell for it.
Like an idiot, I fell for it.
I went on a very pissed off walk, off property, yelling at security that if they followed me, I’d slit their throats and did the stupid human thing. I left my purse, I left my phone, I left my security, and I left every shred of pride I had and went to the cliff, the one that Ivan used to run to whenever we had family dinners, and he got upset.
“It would be so fucking easy.” Ivan stared down the ravine. “How high do you think it is?”
It scared me when he talked like that; I mean, I hated him, and I threatened him, but I didn’t want to truly end him. “I don’t know, maybe a hundred feet until you fall into the tiny stream and hit rock.”
He snorted. “Yeah, that’s only a few feet of water, splat you would go, but you’d feel like, flying, for a minute you know? You’d feel free.”
“Are you in prison?” I joked. “I mean, you realize you just walked away from a bougie brunch where they serve alcohol to minors and give you gold plates because they’re pretty and blood can’t stain them.”
He barked out a laugh. “Never thought I’d look at gold and be like, oh cool, way easier to clean.”
“It really is.”
“Real gold doesn’t tarnish.”
“Kind of ironic, the bloodstains won’t stay, but every time I look at those plates, I wonder how much people will remember of me when I’m gone, you know? Will I be just like that blood on the gold plate that gets wiped clean, or will I last, will I be the one drop that stays?”
I sat down next to him. “Do you want to tarnish then?”
“I wouldn’t call it tarnishing. I would call it being remembered. Existing.”
I sighed, tempted to lay my head on his shoulder. “I can’t decide if that’s tragic or foolish.”
“Both.” He jumped to his feet and looked down. “If I’m ever missing, just look in the ravine.”
I scrambled to my feet and nearly fell back onto the dusty rocks. “Don’t joke like that.”
He shrugged. “Maybe it’s better to own your own destiny than turn around just in time for the knife to get shoved into your back, ever thought of it that way?”
I smacked him on the arm, then pinched it for good measure, he could be such an asshole! “No, and you shouldn’t either.”
Why was I so angry at him for talking like this? I shouldn’t care, but his truth scared me more than the reality of what we were living in.