Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 121153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Movement caught my eye. Lilah was edging toward her two sisters, tears streaming down her scarred face. She had her arm over her stomach, and her movements were labored. And even from where I stood, I could see her hands were shaking. Disbelief was all over her face. Harmony carefully drew back from Maddie’s arms and got to her feet. Maddie stood too, never leaving Harmony’s side, staring up at her elder sister like she was Christ risen from the dead.
“Lilah . . . ” Harmony murmured. Tears filled her eyes. “Lilah . . . what happened to you?” Guilt seared across my heart. I felt two eyes boring through me. When I looked up, Ky’s jaw was locked and he was glaring daggers at me. I got his message loud and clear: I was responsible for his wife’s disfigurement and pain. For whatever she was clearly going through now.
I completely agreed.
“Bella,” Lilah cried, drawing my attention back to them. She didn’t answer Harmony’s question, but carefully and cautiously folded herself into Harmony’s arms.
“Shh,” Harmony soothed as she held her tight. I saw her eyes squeeze together in pain—pain for what her sister must have gone through in her absence—and tears tracked down her face.
“I have missed you, Bella. I missed you so much I could barely breathe,” Lilah cried into Harmony’s shoulder. “But how . . . I do not understand . . . you died . . . I cannot . . . ?”
A loud, tortured cry came from across the lot. Mae. Harmony pressed a kiss to Lilah’s cheek and stepped out of her embrace. Harmony looked toward Mae. I let my eyes drift from Harmony, to Mae, and back again. They could almost pass as twins. Yet, curiously, I didn’t see them as the same. They shared the same height, build, dark hair and ice-blue eyes . . . yet there was a spark in Harmony that, to my heart, Mae didn’t possess. A spark that told me she was mine, in a way that Mae never was.
Was never meant to be.
Mae cried harder as Harmony slowly approached her. Mae had once told me of her sister Bella and the special bond they shared. She loved all her sisters, but I had always known there had been an extra bond between Bella and Mae. I could see that even now, in the way they looked at one another.
Mae was curled against Styx, the prez keeping his pregnant fiancée from falling down. He kissed her on her head, watching the scene with a fucking shell-shocked look on his face.
Harmony stopped dead.
“Mae,” Harmony said.
“You died,” Mae whispered. She stepped forward toward her sister. “You died . . . I sat with you as you died.” Mae’s face contorted with pain. “I held your hand in mine as it went still and cold. I felt your fingers stop shaking until they never moved again . . . ”
“I know,” Harmony whispered back.
“You told me to run. You told me to run and never look back.” Mae’s blue eyes became tortured. “So I did . . . I left . . . but . . . but . . . but I left you there alive and alone?” She shook her head and choked on her tears. “Bella, I would never have left you . . . if I knew . . . if I had known . . . ”
Mae’s knees gave way and she slumped to the floor. Styx moved forward to catch her, but Harmony was there before him, joining her sister on the floor. “Mae, do not blame yourself.” Harmony cradled Mae’s head in her arms. Mae cried and cried—loud, racking tears.
When she had calmed, she lifted her head and searched Harmony’s face. “You look exactly the same.” Mae smiled and ran her hand down Harmony’s cheek. “Still so beautiful. The most beautiful of all.”
“Mae, I am so sorry,” Harmony cried. “I thought . . . I was told you had all died. I thought I had lost you all too.”
Mae held out her hands to Lilah and Maddie. The two sisters walked over and joined them on the floor. They wrapped their arms around one another, creating an impenetrable circle. Their heads were bowed, as if they were in deep prayer. My stomach sank as I saw in that moment how they all would have lived in the old commune. Only having each other for support. Only knowing the love of the other sisters, nobody else accepting them.
Harmony lifted her head. “I was told you had all died.” She shook her head. “I have believed for so long that I had no one left in the world. That I was alone.” Then she looked at me and fucking smiled. “Until I met Rider.”
Her loving smile pierced the protective ice that had formed around my heart when we had arrived. I had forced myself to try and detach. It was protection against my heart shattering. Because I knew it was coming.