Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Sam took one of the coffees offered but didn’t move from my shelter.
The door was shoved open from the side.
Axel stood there, grimacing when he saw us. “Uh, Steele’s going to lose his shit if we don’t get on the same page.”
Logan took point for us, advancing on him. “And what page would that be?”
Axel was eyeing him, giving him a quizzical look. He started to respond.
Logan cut him off, “Oh, by the way. I just saw your folks. It’d been on the agenda to let him know your mom’s fucking your buddy’s father, but then Moreaux didn’t show up, so that news never came to light. You’re welcome.” He breezed past the kid, who gaped after him.
I almost felt sorry for the boy. Almost.
There was no surprise on Axel’s face so he’d known, but Logan blasted him with that news that we also knew, and on this night, it would’ve felt like he’d been hit with a grounder from left field. I knew what Logan was doing.
He’d been briefed on the drive and that Sabrina was the opposition. In Logan’s view, her brother and the two guys that stood shoulder to shoulder with him were also the opposition. He was knocking them off-balance, one by one. As we followed him, who was following behind Beltraine, who was walking at a slower pace to where Steele was waiting, I knew we’d witness something similar to each of the other two. I just wasn’t sure what Logan was going to use as ammunition.
“Fucking finally,” Steele snapped, going through a door that he’d held open for us. Beltraine got there first, holding it for Logan, who swept past him.
He blinked at him in surprise before his gaze jerked to us, and he nodded to himself. As if reminding himself that Logan was with us. I didn’t blame him. The only one who really noticed Logan’s presence at the house before the ambulance got there was Steele because Logan had been the one who helped stop the bleeding.
We entered the room, which I almost started laughing because it was a chapel.
Logan was fighting back a grin, which doubled at seeing my reaction.
I groaned. “Fuck’s sakes.”
“Now, now. None of that cursing, Mason. The Head Honcho wouldn’t approve.” Logan held up his finger at me.
I flicked him off. “Fuck off.”
A genuine laugh came next from him.
Steele was at the altar, his back to it, and the glowering hadn’t eased up. It seemed to have worsened. His hands were in fists again, pressed tight to his pants, as if he needed to hold himself back from… Doing something he didn’t want to do.
Beltraine came in last, shutting the door.
“Lock it,” Steele ordered.
Click.
“Done,” Beltraine commented, coolly. He rounded around us, barely sparing us a look as he went to join his friends. “You got the floor, Steele.”
He cocked his head up, skewering me. He lost some of the heat when his gaze went to Sam, then returned as he flicked Logan a wary look. “I want to know what the fuck happened in that room. And don’t bullshit me. My sister would never hurt herself. I know what Maddy said, but I don’t believe her.”
Logan opened his mouth.
“No,” Sam said to him. Her voice was sharp. “This is my brother, Logan. I’ll handle this.”
Logan’s eyes met mine, but he gave a nod, stepping back.
Sam pulled away from me, going toward her brother. Her voice was soft, but strong. I hoped he was noting that. “What do you want me to say, Steele? You want me to put into words that my daughter might’ve harmed your sister?”
His head folded down. “My sister wouldn’t have—”
Her head went with him, just a bit. But not her tone. She was strong as ever as she continued, “But she did. She harmed my husband’s father. She harmed my daughter’s grandfather. Your friend’s grandfather. You heard her. If Maddy wasn’t Maddy, your sister planned to try and take her away from us. If she’d been successful, in getting Maddy to want to join The System, you know what that would’ve done. Park Sebastian has only sought to hurt Mason and myself. Since the beginning. Your sister doesn’t know the true history. She was one part of his revenge on us. He took away my father and in doing that, he also took away my sister.” Now her voice softened. “I’ve wanted to know you for so long. I wanted to know my dad. Park Sebastian took you away from me. He took me away from you. Are you thinking of it that way?”
“Don’t tell me how to think,” he snarled. “It’s my sister that he put all that fucked up shit in her head. But he’s not the one who stabbed my sister and was standing there, in her blood, just watching it pool at her feet. Your daughter did that—”