Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
But that’s cold comfort. “I’m sorry, angel.”
“And instead of seeing what was right in front of me, I came up with another fucking stupid plan. Don’t tell you anything that might send your club to that clinic, just get to his boss so we can mount a rescue. But it was just absolute shit. From the very start.”
“Nah, girl. You did everything right. And you had the very best reason for staying quiet and fighting until you got here. You were so fucking loyal. You’d have made any brother proud.”
“Whatever that’s worth.”
“That’s worth everything.”
“Then I don’t have anything now.” With a ragged sob, she presses her face into her hands. “Nothing at all.”
Fuck. Throat raw, I hold her tight. Because I know exactly what’s in her now. A big fucking hole.
As soon as she quiets again, I catch her tearstained cheeks in my hands, meet her shattered gaze. “You do have something, angel. You’ve got three months of information in your head. And with that, you’ll help these feds nail those fuckers to the wall. Papa, the doc, Victor. Every single one of them. Pretty soon, you’ll be looking across a courtroom at them, and making them pay for what they did to you. For what they did to Matt. Yeah?”
Though her lips are trembling, her face firms up and she nods. “Yeah.”
“Your brother’s the one who told you to remember all that stuff, isn’t he?” Probably why she sounded like a cop reciting it. “So that everything you saw, you could tell the feds later. When you got out, he intended for you to burn the whole thing down. That right?”
A spark flares to life behind her eyes. “He did.”
“Then that’s what you have. I know you’re hurting real bad, but you hold onto that. You’re going to take these fuckers down. Say to me you will.”
Her chin lifts. “I will.”
“That’s my girl.” Softly I kiss those trembling lips, then pull back to brush her tears from her cheeks. “Do you have any other family? Anyone they can bring in and—”
Those eyes fill with tears again, but don’t shatter. “No other family,” she whispers thickly. “I’m alone now.”
“Nah. You’ve got an entire law enforcement agency about to bend over backwards for you. And you’ve got me. You keep that tag handy. And any fucking thing, you understand? Anything. I’ll be there. You’re not alone. I’ll get another burner and send the number to that phone I gave you. Then you can text or call me any time and no one will be able to trace it. Okay?”
She takes a deep, shuddering breath before nodding. Steadying herself. “Okay.”
This fucking girl. And my chest hurts so goddamn bad. But it’s not rot anymore.
“C’mon, then. Let’s get you off this floor.”
I take her hand, but she shakes her head. “Thank you. But… I’m not ready to go out there and talk more yet.”
“I’ll tell Creek to keep his mouth shut.”
“No. It’s okay. I just need to…stop crying first.”
“Might take a while.”
“Yeah, well. I don’t have any other plans for tonight.” A watery smile curves her lips. “Mine fell apart.”
Rescuing her brother. “I guess they did.”
“But you should go,” she says softly.
And leave her here. Throat feeling like it’s shredded, I cup her face. “Is that what you want?”
“You’ve helped me so much.” She swallows hard. “But I can’t ask you to be my shoulder to cry on all night.”
“Yeah, you can.”
She laughs as if I were joking before her mouth presses tight, her chin wobbling, her shimmering eyes searching my face.
“Thank you,” she whispers, and I know a good-bye when I hear one. “But I just need to sit and figure out what to do now.”
Yeah. Me, too.
It ain’t rot in my chest now. But still hurts so fucking much as I nod and get to my feet. I’m at the bathroom door when she stops me.
“Stone.” She’s got her arms wrapped around herself, still all huddled up on the floor. “Are you still going after Papa, too?”
“Yeah,” I say quietly. It’s the only way she’ll ever truly be safe from him. “Unless you want to get him first. I’ll wait my turn.”
She shakes her head, her eyes going distant. “But…let me know if you do?”
“Yeah. I’ll do that.”
“Thank you.”
I can’t bear to hear that even one more time. I force my feet to move. Creek’s standing in the room, phone to his ear, face grim.
“—push the sweep back farther. Our man’s in the dirt out there and I want him out, right fucking now.” He tosses the phone to the bed and looks over to me. “She all right?”
“What the fuck do you think?” I grab my jacket. “She’ll help you take down Papa. And if he ever gets to her, if he gets even a whiff of her existence, I will fucking end you.”