Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 80249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“What are you thinking? Kidnap the brat and deliver him to King?” Red asks and he says it so calmly that I get sick to my stomach while listening to him.
“Nah. I don’t need that kind of headache—at least not yet. How about we get rid of Diesel for him?” Wolf laughs and I clap my hand over my mouth.
I’m going to be sick.
“Now we’re talking. We can head out now.”
“Sounds good. Take Grunt and Foley with you. We can trust them to keep their fucking mouths shut. I’d go with you, but today is the day I finish that piece of slab in the storm shelter.”
“Thank Christ for that. You’ve done so much to him I think he’s starting to rot. Fucker sure does stink. It’s so bad you’d think he was already dead.”
“Not yet, but that’s definitely coming. I’ll finish the job soon as I get back from this meeting with King and his associates.”
“You still want a man following Torrent?”
“It’s not really needed around here, but if she tries to leave you have them detain her. Feed her some bullshit about the Koreans having a price on her head.”
“She’ll buy that?”
“She’s so damn gullible right now, she’d buy oceanfront property in the fucking desert off of me.”
“You got it, Boss. I’ll get Lester to do it.”
“Sounds good. Let’s get rolling. We both need to get this shit done,” Wolf says and I fight down panic as I quickly move out of the hall. I duck into a small half bath my father always claimed as his because it was close to his office. I turn the lock on the door and I don’t take a breath until I hear footsteps pass on the outside. Then I wait another fifteen minutes before I peek my head outside.
“Hey! Torrent! What are you doing over here?” I look up to see one of my father’s men—Daniel or something like that. I don’t know him that well. He was always more of a loner. He had an accident, and is now in a wheelchair. He can’t ride his bike anymore and the men stopped using his road name because of that. That always seemed horrible to me, but…
Not my monkey and definitely not my circus.
Right now, I have to fight the urge to take off running. I need to act normal, calm and completely in control.
“Hey, Dan… I uh… I was looking for Wolf. I was hoping we’d be able to eat lunch together. His office is empty though.”
“Oh yeah. He had a meeting today. Don’t know much about it. The men don’t exactly tell me shit these days. If you’re looking for a lunch partner though, I’m available,” he volunteers.
Crap.
“Well… I think I might run into town now. I’ve been wanting to get my hair done. I’ll take a raincheck though?”
“Sounds good. You can let me know,” he says, but he’s already wheeling away.
I make my steps go slow and measured and I plaster a smile on my face as I make my way out of the club and around back to my dad’s house. I need to go check out the cellar. I don’t want to… but I’ve got a bad feeling about what I will find there.
I really hope I’m wrong.
Torrent
When I close the door to the house, I lock it. That doesn’t feel safe, because I figure Wolf has a key. Suddenly everything I’ve believed for my entire life is in question. I always thought I was so smart; turns out it is quite possible that I’m an idiot.
No wonder Devil was so upset with me!
I try to think of what I might need, in case I can help whoever is in the cellar. I’m praying it’s not Devil, but in my heart I feel like it is. It never made sense to me why Devil would leave without a word and not answer my call. Even in our fight, he said I knew how to find him. It didn’t make sense that he would completely ignore me, especially after I apologized and promised I’d do things differently.
I force my mind away from those thoughts. I need to keep it together. I need to check out the cellar, hopefully find out Devil is not there, and then I need to get the fuck out of here—and I need to do all of that before Wolf comes back.
Devil called his club from my house phone. I could find that number and call them—but what if I’m wrong? What if it’s not Devil down there?
I run to my bathroom and grab a first aid kit, then I go into the den and find the secret compartment under my dad’s desk. There’s only two people who know about that compartment.
My dad and me.
Once I lift the false bottom I take out the keys I find there. I frown because there’s also a letter in there. I fold it and slip it into my pants pocket for later. I need to get to the cellar before I lose my nerve. I make my way to my bedroom and grab the small dagger my dad gave me for my sixteenth birthday and my pistol—both of which I keep under my bed in a safe. I load the gun and store each securely at the back of my jeans. Then, I put on a long-sleeved shirt, to help hide it and to serve as a jacket. The cellar can be cold.