Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Yawning, David rose. “Kazimir stressed that he wanted to tell you himself.”
“Lunita showed up?”
Neither said anything.
Giorgio nodded behind them.
Thanks, Butler.
I scanned the space, not getting any clue of what could have happened.
“Okay. I’ll respect that.” I stepped deeper into the hallway. “I’m just going to walk around.”
And figure this out on my own.
David got in front of me. “Let me wake up Kazimir.”
“How much sleep has he gotten?”
“He wanted us to wake him when you—”
“David.” I frowned. “How much sleep did he get?”
“Barely, two hours.”
Goddamn it.
I gritted my teeth. “Don’t you fucking wake him. Do you understand me?”
“Emily—”
“Do you understand me?”
David scowled. “I understand.”
I gazed at the three of them. “And what about you all? Have any of you slept tonight?”
“We are fine.” Blue pursed her lips.
Giorgio slowly rose. “We haven’t slept at all tonight.”
My frown deepened. “Go to sleep.”
Blue shook her head. “Not happening.”
David crossed his arms over his chest. “I really should wake Kazimir.”
“Please, David. I don’t know what happened, but I do know that Kaz deserves some peace.” I was about to say something else, but a noise sounded further down the hall.
I turned that way.
Two men from the Brotherhood carried a mattress and headed out of Emilio’s room.
What?
I studied the mattress. Blood stained the front in a huge, crusted circle.
No.
I rushed off.
Blue followed and got to my side. “Emily, you should stay by the—”
“Is Olga okay?” I sped up to a light jog. “Is that why Emilio is in our room? Is she in the hospital?”
“Let’s go back to the bedroom.” Blue tried to grab my arm.
I dodged it and shifted to a sprint. My legs ached like I’d been running all night.
What did you do with our body, Lunita?
This unsettling sensation swirled through me.
Terror filled Blue’s eyes. “Emily—”
“What happened to Olga?”
“I can’t tell you.”
Fear gripped my heart like an icy hand wrapping around it, squeezing and constricting.
The men saw me heading that way and hurried off.
Please let Olga be okay. She’s too good of a person. Please, Lunita.
I got to the nursery and rushed in.
No!
My feet glided to a stop on the wet carpet. My heart plummeted to the deepest depths of despair.
Blood.
This horrid dread coursed through my veins.
My stomach twisted. I looked down at the thick, red trail from Olga’s room to the doorway. The scent of death and iron filled my nostrils, making my head dizzy.
“T-too much blood.” Reluctantly, I walked further in. Cold, sticky blood clung to my skin like tree sap. Most of the trail had dried and hardened. Each step, I took was punctuated by an eerie and terrible crunching noise.
“L-lunita. . .” Chills surged up my spine.
I didn’t want to keep going forward. The blood trail suggested an inescapable probability of carnage and death.
I couldn’t take anymore horror.
I should have turned around.
But I had to walk forward.
My eyes watered. “L-lunita, tell me. . .you didn’t. . .please. . .”
I got closer. The scent of death coated my nose. I didn’t even want to breathe anymore.
Bile rose in my throat.
I paused in the doorway, trying to gain control of myself and bracing myself against the inevitable horror.
No. There’s no way. . .she did it. . .there would be no. . .reason for it. . .
On the left, three men worked around Olga’s bedroom, folding her clothes and placing them in boxes. Shock etched their scarred faces as if they’d seen a lot, but never anything this bad.
I turned to the right, and that was when I saw the true horror. Two men slowly picked up cut up body parts that had been organized on the floor in a. . .
I looked closer.
The body parts had formed some oddly shaped flower.
I drowned in sadness. “Olga.”
A heart gripped by pain, was a train stopped dead in its tracks. And with me, the tracks were collapsing. The rails snapping. The train careening into a ravine. Smashing down and tumbling. Flipping and falling.
Tears spilled from my eyes. My voice grew hoarse. “Olga.”
Some of the men stopped what they were doing.
My chest tightened. I forced oxygen in and out of my lungs.
I stumbled into the room. “Why Olga, Lunita? Why?”
Blue made it to my side. “Emily, let’s go—”
“Don’t say anything.” Feeling nauseous, I turned away from the body parts and staggered off to Olga’s bathroom. “Just. . .give me a minute. . .”
Lunita, why Olga?
More bile rose in my mouth. Acidic and bitter. Coating the back of my tongue.
“G-god d-damn it.” I hurried into the bathroom, shut the door, and locked it.
I didn’t want to throw up.
I wanted to scream.
Scream in terror.
Scream in anguish.
Scream until the noise tore out of my heart.
Why, Lunita? Why?
I stumbled to the toilet, but no longer felt like vomiting.
Just tell me that.
My tongue was now numb. My lips tingled, and my throat felt coated with sand.
I caught my reflection in the mirror and gazed at it.