Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 63626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Jay smiled. “In other words, you being declared murdered or just missing is fine with us. We don’t give a fuck how it looks. The point of the matter is you are dead to all. You are nothing but a ghost now. A ghost living in purgatory with us.”
I took a deep breath to try to calm the raging fear threatening to consume all rational thought. I had to come up with a way out of this situation. I was out in the middle of nowhere in a place I had never heard of. Barrett’s Mountain? Where in the hell is that? Twisted, fucked up, demented, and bizarre were not strong enough words to describe the hell I was now in.
“So here is the deal,” Jay said in the most professional manner. “First option is you say no and refuse what we are offering. In which case, we kill you. We can’t have you here hurting Kit. And if she thinks we forced you to come, are forcing you to stay here, or that we are the bad guys we truly are, it will devastate her. My brothers and I won’t allow her to feel we are anything less than the heroes and good guys she believes us to be.”
“Even though we are the fucked up villains in this story,” Rye added.
“But she doesn’t know that,” Jay continued as if his brother hadn’t spoken. “So, if you decide to fight us, scream, escape, reveal the truth in any way, we will kill you. It’s not a threat but an actuality.” He paused, allowing the time for his words to sink in.
“Refuse what? What are you offering?” I pulled up my knees to my chest, the first time I had moved since they entered the woodshed.
“As Rye mentioned, you are dead. Dead to all who once cared about you. But we are offering a rebirth.” Jay stood as if his legs must have ached from being in a squat for so long.
“I’m not fucking dead!” I snapped. “You are both sick! Sick!” My chest tightened, and the panic was being replaced with fury. “You can’t do this!”
Rye took Jay’s place in the squat before me. His eyes locked with mine. “We already have. The sooner you accept that, the better. My brothers and I were born into a lineage that marches to our own orders. We aren’t good. We aren’t decent. And we don’t follow the rules of your ‘proper’ society. So yes, we can, and will, do whatever the fuck we want.”
“But we do love our sister. We want her happiness more than we want anything else. We also want her safe and protected, which is why we picked up and moved back to our land. It’s a secret cabin that has always been hidden away in the depths of the trees. We can’t risk her being killed like our father and mother were. We have a lot of fucking enemies, and our enemies are Kit’s as well, no matter how innocent she is in all this. So my brothers and I decided enough was enough and we were going to give it all up. The crime. The killing. The bloodshed in the name of vengeance. This is our mountain and plenty of space to live off of in seclusion. A perfect place to start new. Our own rebirth.” Rye’s eyes scan my face as if looking for an understanding. “We grew up here. This used to be our home, and it will be again.”
“When our parents were murdered, we left the mountain to begin our revenge closer to our enemies. Now that our mission has been achieved, we’re ready to return,” Jay said. “Barrett’s Mountain is going to home again. It’s safer here.”
“Safer from what?” I asked.
“Our enemies,” Rye answered. “They’ll try to hunt us down.”
“And will fail,” Jay said. “Only a few know this mountain and can navigate it without getting lost—or killed for trespassing.”
“No way can we be found here. Blackstone has tried and has failed. His only hope is us leaving the mountain like when my parents did. He can’t touch us here,” Rye added.
I tried to wiggle my fingers but couldn’t feel them. It was just the reminder I needed that I was held captive by these men who, for a split second, didn’t seem so bad. “I don’t see why I’m here. I have nothing to do with that life. I own a shop. I just want to be left alone.”
“Kit will need help. She is a broken bird without the ability to fly. So, we are bringing you here to help her. We know she can’t do all that is required here on her own,” Rye answered.
“Required?” I asked.
“This land is a piece of shit,” Rye said with a slight chuckle as he stood. “But it’s our piece of shit, so we need to fix it up. It once was a mighty mountain before our family allowed the poppy to take over.”