Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Zade slips under the covers and immediately pulls me into his arms, rolling me in the process so that my back is tight up against his chest. “Go to sleep, Lamb,” he murmurs through the night, his arms offering me the sweetest serenity, despite being the ones I should fear most.
I close my eyes, but sleep doesn’t find me as thoughts of Nikolai Thorne and my time in Empire’s prison roll through my mind. “What is it?” Zade questions, able to sense my internal struggle.
“Nikolai said something to me when I was in the cell,” I tell him, “and it’s just not sitting well with me.”
“What’d he say?”
Pressing my lips into a hard line, I roll in his warm arms and lift my gaze to meet his. “He told me how those who are sacrificed during the leadership ritual are not permitted a proper burial in order to keep people from asking too many questions. They’re buried away from the general population, deep in Empire’s tombs where no one will ever find them. But I don’t want that,” I whisper, that heaviness returning. “Promise me, Zade. After you kill me, give me a nice burial. Somewhere the boys can come visit me, where I won’t be left alone to rot in the ground. If you can’t free me now, then at least free me in death.”
Zade dips his head, his lips brushing over mine in the softest kiss, and it breaks my heart.
“I promise.”
Chapter 31
OAKLEY
My knees bounce as we drive through the streets of Faders Bay, and I’m not going to lie, with Cara sitting right beside me in the back of Zade’s brand-new Escalade, things are a little awkward. And the fact that the boys are dead silent isn’t helping.
It’s Sawyer’s initiation day, and apparently, it’s a big deal. Big enough that Zade felt the need to break out the new Escalade after the old one had a little incident with a shower of bullets. Who would have known being a billionaire meant you could order a car and have it show up in the valet parking of your big fucking hotel within ten minutes? But that’s not what’s important. It’s their need to torture me with this awkwardness.
There are a lot of things I can handle in life. Hell, apparently being the target of multiple hitmen is one of them, but awkward silence certainly isn’t. It’s been four days since Nikolai’s execution, and I can’t exactly say that things have gotten better for Cara. She’s been holed up in her room since she was brought back. The original deal was to lock her in Zade’s spare bedroom, but she’s had full access to the penthouse—not that she’s taken advantage of it. I never even see her eat. I almost feel bad for her, but then I remind myself how she got herself locked up here in the first place, and that guilty conscience of mine just fades away.
Dalton’s bike rumbles through the street as he overtakes the Escalade, and I roll my eyes, knowing just how desperately he craves the thrill of driving like a fucking idiot on that thing. The speed, the freedom, the engine between his legs. He loves it. I just wish I was on there with him, but my backless black satin gown and strappy heels don’t make riding on the back of a Harley very practical.
I still don’t understand why I have to wear this stupid outfit. Don’t get me wrong, the plunging neckline and high slit in the side is a girl’s version of a wet dream . . . Actually, that gets me thinking. What is a girl’s version of a wet dream? Is it a soggy fantasy? A moist delusion? Clammy hallucination?
Easton spent the morning explaining the importance of today’s initiation. How it’s a grand event, something that should be celebrated among their people. This is a new era, a new member welcomed into the brotherhood of The Circle, though judging by the look in Sawyer’s eyes, he doesn’t see it that way, and I simply can’t bring myself to celebrate something he’s being forced into simply because of the blood that runs through his veins. He’ll do it though, because that’s just who he is. Besides, I don’t think anyone actually knows what would happen if he were to deny the role. Hell, I don’t think denying it is actually an option.
There’s nothing about today’s initiation that’s normal. It’s the first time Empire will accept a new member into The Circle without a current ruling leader, and they’ve asked Zade to step in to perform all the culty bullshit that goes along with it. There’s no telling if Zade’s actually into it, but I don’t think so. He’s so hard to read, but he agreed out of duty, and I’m not going to lie, a thrill shot through me when I realized I was going to be able to watch him do his thing.