Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
I tried to remember everything that had been said but couldn’t, and a tinge of fear ran up my spine. My chest felt tight, and I felt that nasty feeling of rage climbing up my throat again. The screams started in my head and made their way up my lungs and filled the room with a booming echo.
The pain in my hands and the blood running down onto the floor brought me back to my senses, and it took a few minutes for my breathing to get back to normal. I looked at my hands, a bit confused as my mind raced.
The one thought that kept flitting around in my head until it stuck was that Elena had done this. She’d no doubt found a way to sink her claws into him, and he’d fallen for it.
I kept going back to that last picture of them at the restaurant and the way he was holding her hand and gazing into her eyes, and it hurt. They looked like they were part of the in-crowd, and once again, I felt like that poor insignificant little girl looking on from the outside while everyone else lived extravagant lives.
I’d tried so hard, fought so long for the life I’d had with Ryder. I’d given up myself, lost my own sense of identity, and done everything I was meant to, to have the life I dreamed of. Why does she get to have everything? Why couldn’t I have this one thing when she got to have everything else?
She was loved and adored by everyone, and now she was trying to steal my life, my whole world. I won’t let her. No matter what anyone else says, Ryder is mine, and I won’t let her or anyone else have him.
Looking around the empty room with the dingy walls brought a moment of clarity that scared me to the core. I don’t want to end up back here. I wouldn’t even have that anyway, now that Dad had lost the house. I have no home; I have no money; I have nothing….
The anger that has fueled me thus far once again helped me to see past the fear of what was looming up ahead. I’ve been so focused on my hatred of Elena and my rage at the thought of her being close to Ryder that I’ve overlooked other more glaring issues.
There was no way I was coming out of this whole thing broke. Ryder owed me, everyone owed me, and I was going to collect.
***
*Mengelini*
“She went back to her old childhood home.”
“Oh, goody. Let’s have some fun.” I looked through my notes of ‘what ifs’ and told Uncle Shane what I wanted him to do, and even though he hemmed and hawed for a bit, I reminded him that the house was now mine, well, the Squad’s at any rate, but I had been the one to buy it, and so I could do whatever I want.
I didn’t have to worry about him telling Daddy about what I was up to because he was too busy on the other side of the world and couldn’t do anything but grumble. “Is it your aim to drive this girl crazy?”
“I’m not the one driving that car; she’s been there. And besides, there’s a difference between crazy and evil. She started it.”
“She started it? Sometimes I forget that you’re only ten. What’s my daughter up to?”
“Who, Lily? Nothing. We’re trying to solve an equation; why?”
“What sort of equation?”
“We’re triangulating air travel and space divided by maritime.”
“Come again?”
“It’s nothing, Uncle Shane. Oh, Lily said to bring back cannoli for everyone from the place where Uncle Gabriel gets it.”
“Fine, I’ll get cannoli; what about the other place in the Flat Iron district?”
“We’re still going to need that place; Uncle Gabriel already took care of everything.”
“He did, did he? What exactly did he take care of?”
“You’ll know when you get there.”
“Who was it that taught you not to let your right hand know what your left hand was doing?”
“I don’t know what that means, Uncle Shane.”
Uh-oh, he’s too smart. Lily did warn me to be careful with him. I signaled her, and she came over to take over the call. The thing is, we’re both very good at wrapping our own dads around our fingers, but neither one trusts us. Meaning Uncle Shane does not trust me, and neither does Daddy trust Lily or Nia, come to think of it, though she gets away with much more because she’s very good at being cute and adorable.
I listened as Lily talked to her dad while I filled Nia in on this new turn of events. I hadn’t spent much time on the thought of Janie going to her old childhood home since it was so far out of the city, but it was on the list of possibilities though very low on the list. But I love a challenge, and this one wasn’t as bad as most. In fact, it would be fun now that I think about it. Gives us more room and time to play.