Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
I reached out and took the bracelet, staring down at it in my palm as my heart ached. She’d never leave this behind. One of my worst nightmares had come true. How could we let this happen to her?
“I don’t understand why we’re still standing here,” Bradley said. “We need to take the fight to them!”
Claude put his hand up to try to calm Bradley down.
“We can’t storm over there without a plan. They’ll crush us and probably punish her in response,” he replied.
Cameron moved to his brother’s side and nodded.
“He’s right. We have to be careful about this for her sake and the baby’s sake. We have to remember that she’s bound to deliver any day now,” he told us with a firm look on his face.
I wanted to demolish the Hornets, to strip away every bit of power they had. Maybe we didn’t have as many numbers as them, but we had more strength and more drive than they ever could. People cast wary glances at us for a reason. Because we were known to stand our ground and fight for what we wanted, even if that ended with some blood spilled.
The Hornets deserved to be punished for what they just did, but I also recognized that the stakes were different this time. It wasn’t just us involved in this situation, and I refused to put Aisling and our son in even more danger than they already were.
“Quiet!” I shouted, cutting off all the arguing going on around me. My gaze swept over tense, angry faces that reflected my own thoughts and worries. “I’m just as pissed off and worried as all of you are. Aisling… she… damn it.”
Where did I even begin? She made me feel things that I didn’t know I could even feel. Being without her felt like a damn blade to my heart, and I was going to bleed out without her. She was the most amazing woman I had ever met, and I would go to any lengths to get her back safely.
“Look, Aisling means a lot to all of us. Hell, I’ve even fallen in love with her, despite me trying not to,” I admitted, pressure settling on my chest at the thought.
Bradley’s jaw tensed before he sighed and shook his head.
“I’m pretty sure I tried the hardest. I tried to make it seem like I didn’t even want her here, but… that didn’t work,” he replied. “I was a goner from the start.”
Gradually, the others nodded.
“I’m terrified of losing her. This all just brings me back to when I lost Hailey… how devastated I was to not be able to hold her in my arms again. I can’t lose Aisling too,” Cameron murmured as he lowered his eyes and shook his head. “I thought I’d never fall in love again until I met her.”
Chris gripped Cameron’s shoulder, letting him know that he was there for support.
“I think her coming into our lives was meant to be. I mean, you met her for a reason, Kai,” Claude pointed out. “So that we could all find each other. Have the family we’ve all wanted.”
Chris and Lincoln nodded in agreement.
The original tension in the room died down only slightly. I could feel the warmth and emotion from everyone as they all let their walls crumble, showing the most vulnerable sides of them. We had always known that we wanted a happy family life. Now that we finally had it within arm’s reach, the woman we loved had been stolen away from us.
We had to remedy that. Quickly. I didn’t know what the Hornets had in store for her, but I knew that they cared more about the baby she was carrying than her. If she gave birth while in their captivity, they would take the baby, but what would they do with her afterward?
Even just the thought made me sick to my stomach.
Auden turned to me with no traces of playfulness in his expression like usual.
“We’re on the same boat as you. Now, what are we going to do to get our girl back?” he asked.
That was the million-dollar question. I didn’t know exactly how we were going to break Aisling free, but I knew that it started with a plan and a lot of pent-up anger.
One out of two wasn’t a bad place to begin.
Chapter 20
Aisling
A lightheaded feeling struck me the moment the hood was ripped off my head, my vision blurring for a second before finally focusing on what looked like a cluttered, dimly lit basement. Panic thumped through my body like a heartbeat, thundering in my head as I grounded myself to reality.
No, to this nightmare that I was somehow trapped in.
“No, no… please,” I cried to myself as I tugged on the ropes that bound my wrists to the arms of the wooden chair that I had been put in.