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)
“Move it along,” Harrison utters, a dark warning in his tone.
My feet are planted to the ground, unable to move. “Fuck, I—” I whip my head around to Harrison. “Release her now.”
“Over my dead fucking body,” he mutters, trying to push me along. “I do not interfere with Empire business. I just uphold it. If she’s down here, there’s a reason for it. Now, move it along.”
“Sawyer?” I hear my father from up ahead. “Son, is that you?”
FUCK!
Harrison jabs me hard enough to have me step away from Oakley, and I realize there’s not a damn thing I can do about it right now. I let him push me away, but I can’t tear my eyes off her. Seeing her so broken kills me.
“Sawyer?” she cries, and the pure agony in her tone is enough for me to know that I will not rest until I have her back safe in my arms. Oakley holds my stare, her eyes so wide and filled with fear. I nod, letting her know I won’t give up on her. Hell, I know Zade sure as fuck won’t. Even if it means breaking Empire law just to get her back. He’ll fucking do it in a heartbeat, and I know damn well Cross and Dalton will too.
Harrison keeps pushing me until I’m standing right in front of my father’s cell, but I find it hard to even look at him. My full attention is still locked on Oakley, already putting together a plan to get her out of here.
I need to call the boys. We need to do this tonight.
“Sawyer.” My father’s stern tone cuts through my panic. “Forget the girl. Look at me.”
My head whips around out of pure habit. Even locked behind bars, when my father speaks, I act. That’s just how it’s always been, what he raised me to do as his perfect little puppet. Only now I’m a grown man with a mind of my own. “Father,” I say, my gaze shifting over him, making sure he hasn’t been harmed down here.
“Son,” he says, gripping the bars as that familiar sternness fades away, leaving a shell of a man who’s had to come to terms with the fact he’s only days away from his execution. He glances at Harrison who remains a few feet away, giving us only a fraction of the privacy we need. When a man is in prison, his rights disappear right along with his freedom. “Listen to me,” he starts. “What I did . . . I need you to be a man now. I’m going to be executed, no matter what happens at my trial. If by some miracle they grant me freedom, you and I both know Zade won’t allow me to walk away. It’s time for you to step up, to take the reins and be the man of our family. I know you can handle this, but your mother and sister will be devastated. They’re going to need you.”
“I know,” I say with a nod, hating how formal he’s being about this. How fucking hard is it to tell your son you love him and mean it? “I’ve already told them what’s happened. Mom isn’t taking it well. She feels like this was somehow her fault, that she shouldn’t have pushed you so hard.”
He clenches his jaw and glances away for just a moment, trying to compose himself. “Understand me now, boy. My decision to hurt that girl had nothing to do with your mother. Do not allow her to shoulder any guilt for my actions,” he says before forcing himself to calm down. “And your sister?”
Unease blasts through my chest and I discreetly look back toward Oakley’s cell, making sure she can’t overhear our conversation. After all, the topic of my sister’s identity isn’t something that’s been shared with her yet and I’m not in the mood to have to deal with that bullshit tonight.
“Shock, maybe,” I tell him, my mind reeling as to why my mother would possibly feel as though any of this could be her fault. “She didn’t want to talk about it. Just went to her room and didn’t come out, but she was just sending me texts as though nothing’s happened.”
“She’ll do that. She’ll pretend nothing’s happening and won’t allow herself to grieve until after the fact. That’s when you need to be there for her. Don’t try to force her to talk about it beforehand.”
“I know how to handle her, Father. She’s my twin sister.”
He presses his lips into a hard line and lets out a heavy breath before meeting my stare. I have to force myself to keep looking, knowing that whatever he’s brought me here to say still hasn’t been said. “Don’t fail me, Sawyer. You need to take your position within The Circle. The moment I’m gone, you’ll be sworn in with an initiation to follow.”