Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Tears - ugly, broken tears burn under my eyelids and I feel pathetic. Weak even.
“You won’t do it, Charlene,” he croaks, grinning at me. “We both know you won’t. You think you’re tough, you think you have it over me, but you don’t. You never did, and you never will. If you wanted me out of this world, you would have done it years ago when you got me locked up. But you didn’t, because you’re weak, and pathetic, and I own you.”
He owns me.
God. Does he?
My hands shake, and my teeth chatter together.
He takes a shaky step forward, and I jiggle the gun. “I’ll shoot you. I’ve dreamt of this moment every second. My entire life I’ve thought about how it would feel to watch you die.”
“And yet, I’m still standing.”
I don’t say anything, I just hold his eyes. The cold, ugly eyes of the man who brought me into this world, and the one who will take me out, if I don’t find my strength.
But will killing him, make me as big of a monster as him?
I think of my Mother.
I think of Oliver. Whose life was taken in such a similar situation to this. He never got the chance to know that he took my father down. He was killed trying to save me, and he did save me, he got me the freedom I so desired, even just for a little while. I owe him this. Because he never got to get married, or have children. His last good deed on this earth, was doing what he promised.
Saving me.
He took a bullet to the chest trying to take this monster down.
“You won’t do it, we both know you won’t. You’re weak, pathetic, just like your mother was. Stupid, even.”
“Don’t you talk about her!” I hiss.
“Or what?” he laughs. “What will do you, Charlene? Your mother died because she was stupid. She had her brains scattered all over my office, because she was weak. You’ll die the same way. Because, I will kill you. And I will relish in it.”
My tears finally fall, rolling down my cheeks in big waves.
My Mother.
My poor, innocent, beautiful Mother.
And Oliver.
And Braxton.
And all the other lives he has ruined.
He steps closer again, and his grin gets bigger. His bloodied teeth loud and proud. He is enjoying this. He honestly believes I won’t shoot him. That I won’t take his life.
He’s wrong.
So. So. Wrong.
“I’ll never forget the way she screamed.”
He’s laughing.
The dead, cold, asshole.
“Never forget the fear on her face. She actually thought I was going to help her, the stupid, naïve bitch. She thought I loved her. She thought she’d hit the jackpot when she met me. What an idiot. And she produced an even bigger idiot. You don’t have it in you. You’re weak, and pathetic, and I curse the day you were born, Charlene. You’re the biggest mistake-”
I pull the trigger.
The gun sends me tumbling backwards, and it falls from my hands. I hit the ground with a scream of pain, and for a few moments, I can’t move.
Then I turn my head, through my tears, and look at my father laying on the ground, rasping, barely able to take a breath.
He isn’t dead.
I didn’t kill him.
I...I failed.
~*~*~*~
NOW – KODA
When they’re gone, Slater appears, bloodied and battered, but alive. Thankfully fuckin’ alive.
Together, we fuckin’ hustle into that warehouse, past the dead bodies, the ones groaning in pain from injuries that will soon kill them. The warehouse is a mess, blood splattered on walls, furniture tipped over, guns lying everywhere. It’s a damned war scene. I don’t give a fuck.
I just want Charlie.
I just need to see if she’s okay.
Fuck, please let her be okay.
We run down a set of stairs to a basement, where a few men lay dead outside the door. The door that is cracked open.
“Fuck,” Slater hisses. “I left that locked.”
Which means somebody got in there. An unfamiliar feeling crushes my chest, and for a second, for a split fuckin’ second, I think about what life might be like without Charlie in it. The only person since Brax, that understands me. The only person I’ve let in. And a pain I’ve long locked away, rises to the surface and I hold my breath, I hold it, terrified of what I’m about to find.
We shove through the door, and the first thing I see is two people on the ground. One of them is crouched over the other, staring, sobbing, hands holding a gun.
She’s fuckin’ alive.
Charlie is alive.
She’s fucked up, so fucked up if it wasn’t for her gorgeous hair, I’d have trouble recognizing her.
What have they done to her? What the fuck have they done to her?
I rush in, shoving past Slater, and drop to my knees, carefully cupping her face and turning it towards me. She’s crying, blood tinged tears rolling down her cheeks.