Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 882(@200wpm)___ 705(@250wpm)___ 588(@300wpm)
“Because we wanted to give you two a good life!”
My fists ball so hard my nails dig into my skin.
“A good life doesn’t mean shit when Ro has to live the rest of her life without her parents,” I grit. “Because of you, I’m all she has left.”
“Nathan, I—”
I disconnect the call.
I’m done with them.
I’m done talking with them for the rest of our lives.
They made a mistake, and we’re the ones paying the price.
But how am I going to tell Ro she’ll never see her mom and dad again?
I punch the door as hard as I can before I tuck the phone back into my pocket and storm out the door.
When I bust back into the library, Caleb’s already gone.
I snatch my laptop and my books off the table, marching out of this library that requires silence when my heart wants nothing more than to roar.
Lana
I take lots of notes in class, making sure I’m all ears to the teacher as I’ve already missed too many classes. But as the time goes by, more and more buzzing on the phones of the people in my class distracts me from what the teacher is trying to explain, and by the time his class is almost finished, it’s really starting to grind my gears.
“Lana,” Brooke mutters next to me, but I’m far too busy staring angrily at other people in the class.
“Am I missing out on some group chat or something?” I mutter. “Why is everyone’s phones buzzing?”
“Lana. I think you need to see this,” she says, and she holds out her phone.
There’s an email that got sent to almost the entire school, and all the students are going wild over a picture.
All the blood slowly drains from my face.
It’s a picture of me without my mask, strapped to a chair, being taken from all sides by Kai, Nathan, and Milo.
Right next to the dead body in the Shack.
My whole body goes numb, and I don’t think I have a heart anymore … because it stopped beating.
Everyone saw me getting railed.
Everyone knows I’m a killer now.
Everything I ever wanted to avoid has happened.
I scoot my chair back.
Everyone’s looking at me like they’re seeing a living corpse.
I take out my phone and open the email to see for myself, but I can’t even stop my hands from shaking so vigorously I almost lose control.
The sender was anonymous.
But I know an anonymous.
The only anonymous who had access to those pictures along with his friends.
“Lana Rivera, can you please sit back down?” the teacher says.
Instead, I grab my bag and storm out of class, hell-bent on revenge.
If they’re going to drag me down into my own personal hell, I’m taking those fuckers with me.
KAI
“I’m gonna have to look for a permanent alternative for Ro,” Nathan says as he takes a huge drag.
I lean against the fountain, and Milo hands me a cig too, which he lights up as I put it in my mouth. “How come?”
“Mom called. Said she and Dad got life with no parole.”
I almost choke on the drag I take, and I swiftly take the cig out of my mouth. “What the f—That’s bullshit!”
“It is what it is. All I know is they ruined our fucking lives.” He takes another deep drag.
I don’t think he wants to talk about them.
Poor Ro, though. To never see your parents again that young has gotta be tough.
“Did you tell her yet?” Milo asks.
Nathan shakes his head.
He must still be gathering the courage.
“What are you going to do now?” I ask. “Leave her with your aunt?”
“No, she’s the only family I have left,” he says, glaring at me. “I have to think of something else.”
“She can’t live with us at the Phantom Society,” Milo says. “I mean, she’s cute, but it’s too dangerous there with us and our murder sprees.”
I shush him. “We’re on public grounds. Not everyone needs to know.”
WHACK!
I feel something swoop past me before I turn to see a knife lying on the bottom of the fountain.
What the …?
WHACK!
A second one lands on the stones right beside Nathan’s hand, which he quickly lifts to avoid getting scratched. “What the fuck—”
“YOU LIED TO ME!”
The scream makes all our heads turn collectively as none other than Lana Rivera marches toward us, pointing her knives right at us in broad daylight.
“What’s going on?” Nathan asks.
She chucks another knife his way. “You did this!”
“Did what? What is happening?” Milo asks.
“Don’t play dumb with me!” she shrieks, chucking another knife until she’s all out. “I deserve better than that!”
“Let’s talk about this, little kitty,” I tell her as she approaches.
Suddenly, she dropkicks me out of nowhere, hitting me in the nuts. “Don’t fucking Kitty me!”
I’m bent over, coughing and heaving from the pain. “Jesus, fuck, I thought we were over this?”
“If you want to hit someone, hit me,” Milo practically begs, opening his arms, but she ignores him and steps over me to punch Nathan in the face so hard he’s bleeding from the nose. “What the fuck, Lana?!”