Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
What did someone like me have to say to her other than sit tight, the ones who fight the monsters are out there risking themselves while the victims hide in the palace in the sky.
I shut the door softly behind me, returning to the kitchen and my ladle.
Chapter Four
I trudged into Sunny’s apartment, carrying a snoozing Laurel. Sienna squeezed my elbow.
“I’ll be in my room, meditating. If I keep the pathways open, I may receive a vision of where those kids are.”
I offered her a smile. “Good idea. I’ll bring your dinner in to you.”
“Thanks, sis.” She kissed my cheek, then Laurel’s.
Inside Laurel’s room, Ms. Fuller puttered around straightening up and putting away her toys.
“You don’t have to do that. I’m planning to move it all into my bedroom anyway. I just came for Boots.” I picked up the stuffed black cat with white feet. “Laurel will lie in her crib, talking away at him like they have secrets.”
Fuller chuckled. “Precious baby. She’s so sweet.”
“That she is,” I whispered, stroking her hair.
“Why don’t you put her down for her nap and I’ll get started moving these things into your bedroom?”
I loved Fuller for not asking why I was moving my baby out of the beautiful nursery the guys worked so hard on.
“By the way,” she said, stopping me in the doorway. “Bane stopped by three times looking for you. He asked that you go up and talk to him.”
Our conversation the day before came back to me. Every raw, shouted word.
“Good,” I said. “Because I want to talk to him too.”
I laid Laurel in her crib, then stopped by Sunny’s room to give him a kiss and her baby monitor. Steeling myself, I rode the elevator to his floor—the sound of gunshots echoing in the metal cage.
Bane opened on the second knock. Every heart-stoppingly gorgeous inch of him filled the entrance. Nothing but a gray shirt, Caddell jacket, jeans, and he put models to shame.
“Kenzie, finally.” He grasped my shoulders, pulling me in. “Listen to me, all that stuff you said, I never thought it for a second. You’re one of the strongest people I know and—”
“But not strong enough,” I sliced in. “I promised Laurel nothing would separate us, then came Coates and Luca.”
“That wasn’t your fault!”
“I know it wasn’t.” My voice shook. “But people keep doing this to me. Lying to me, deceiving me, fucking up my life, and hurting me. It was one thing when it was just me... but then that bitch locked my screaming baby in a bathroom.
“People aren’t afraid of me,” I hissed. “They look at me and see another doe-eyed, naïve victim, and that is my fault.”
Bane took my face in his hands, eyes huge and pleading. “No, it’s not.”
“It is. I let Lyla, Damien, Charlie, Luca, and so many others get away with crushing me under their heels and smearing me across the sidewalk. What else do you call that but weak?! But no more, Bane. Not again.”
I nodded to myself—more secure in my decision than I’d ever been.
“For my daughter. For my sister. For the man I love. I can be the monster that monsters are afraid of.” I grasped his face in turn. “Bane, teach me to be a Merchant.”
BANE
“Bane, teach me to be a Merchant.”
I heard the sentence, but it was not penetrating. “Excuse me? Kenzie, what are you talking about?”
The wild, blazing fervor in those haunting eyes burned brighter. “That day in my room after Athena clocked me in the face, you said you could turn me into someone people wouldn’t dare hit, challenge, or mess with. Someone like Genny. Like you.”
I tossed my head. “I did say that but—”
“But what?” she cried. “You’ve been teaching Sienna to fight. Why not me?” Kenzie pulled away, marching up to my wall of weapons. “You all have these fierce reputations in Cinco—Demone, Bane, FGH, Rat King. People who don’t even know you know to be afraid of you. None would take your daughter and hand her off to a crack addict while they lined up someone to buy her.” Kenzie took one of my guns off the wall, propelling me across the room.
“But I shot him,” Kenzie gritted. “I put two bullets in his knees, and I would’ve put one through his head.”
“What?” My brows blew up my head. “Who?”
“I’ve never understood my mother more than I do now. I would’ve killed to protect Laurel.” She aimed the weapon at my television. “I will kill to protect her. No one will touch her again. The Blaines are through being victims.”
I promptly disarmed her and returned the gun where it belonged. She kept pacing like she didn’t notice. “Kenzie, slow down. Who did you shoot?”
“A piece of sludge,” she replied, lips twisting. “Human waste, but still human. A person. I would’ve killed him to save Laurel, so you can stop thinking of me like a doe-eyed, naïve victim too.”