Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“I made arrangements for Brindley’s remains today,” Reid says. “That was difficult.”
I suppose I should feel for him. On a normal day I would. That beautiful young girl certainly didn’t deserve to come to such a grisly end. No one ever loved her.
Right now? The only thing on my mind is Kelly.
She’s here.
And now that I know for sure that she is? I feel her. I feel her presence.
I didn’t before.
I don’t dare mention this to Reid. He’ll think I’m nuts. But I feel her now. She’s alive. I will get to her.
My phone buzzes.
Buck.
“Hey,” I say into the phone.
“Hey, I just heard from Reid. You doing okay?”
“Fuck, no. But I can handle it.”
“You want me to head back?”
“No, man. Stay with Aspen and her family. Take care of business. This is my problem, not yours.”
“Hey, your problems are my problems. Brothers forever.” His voice breaks slightly. “Buck and Phoenix, the only ones left.”
“Right… Take care of your woman, man. And I’ll try like hell to take care of mine.”
“I’m sorry, Phoenix. I didn’t realize how hard you’d fallen.”
“I didn’t either. But I have. I love her, man. I swore to protect her, and I…” I can’t go on.
“Phoenix always rises,” he says.
“Yeah, the Phoenix does. But she’s not the Phoenix, Buck. She’s Kelly. The woman I love.”
“Don’t do this to yourself. You took care of her as well as anyone could have.”
“Whoever this dude is, he’s got money. Money enough to pay off security people. Money enough to get information to blackmail people.”
“I doubt he has as much money as the Wolfes.”
“What the fuck does that matter? He’s done what he’s done, and now Kelly’s gone. I need to get to her. She’s somewhere in this damned hotel.”
“Then you’ll find her.”
“I sure hope so.” A chill slithers up my spine. “I mean, I know I’ll find her. I just hope I find her before it’s too late.”
“You will.”
“This person, the stalker… He fucking killed Brindley, Buck. He shoved a knife into her cunt and killed her.”
Buck stays quiet.
What the hell can he say?
“That won’t happen to Kelly,” he says. “From what the Wolfes told me, he has some kind of attachment to her. Brindley was just a message.”
“Brindley wasn’t a message, Buck. Brindley was a young woman. A young woman who had a shitty life, and that’s all she’ll remember.”
Again, no response from Buck. Until—
“I’m coming out.”
“No. You take care of your wife. That’s what’s important. Believe me, now I know better than ever how important that is.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. Thanks for the offer, man.”
We end the call, and I watch as the black-clad SWAT team moves in. They will find her. Right now, whoever has her doesn’t realize that we know she’s in the hotel, so they won’t be watching their backs.
Reid is busy talking to police officers and the manager. The few employees who are still around are trembling, looking back and forth.
No one’s paying any attention to me, so I use that to my advantage.
I head toward the stairwell and slip inside.
35
KELLY
The eyes.
As my vision clears, his eyes come into focus.
Dark eyes…but different. Not the eyes that tormented me on the island and continue to torment me now.
Still… Dark…
“Can you understand me, Kelly? I said I’m your father.”
The eyes…
His voice seems familiar…
But then the voice…
“Remember me, Kelly?”
I have a knife…
That’s the voice.
He’s in this room… In this room with the man who claims to be my father.
“Who is that?” I eke out.
I’m not sure if the words make any sense, as my voice is still hot and not quite my own.
The eyes…
Always the eyes…
Even on the island I felt like his eyes were familiar.
Images flash backward in my mind, as if a film is rewinding.
And I’m there.
There on that last day in the restaurant.
When I took over Georgianna’s shift. Was that all preconceived?
Because the man from her section, who left the chocolate… Oh my God.
That man…
That man was my father.
“You can’t be my father,” I say.
“I assure you I can, and I am.”
“Then why are you hanging around with someone who likes to hurt me? And why did you… Why did you…”
“Why did I what?”
“You poisoned me with that chocolate. All those years ago. You left the chocolate with your tip.”
“Everything will make sense to you in time, Kelly,” my father—if he is indeed my father—says.
“Who was that other guy? Who is The Dark One? Why does he call himself Mr. Smith?”
“Because his name is Mr. Smith, Kelly. He’s my son.”
Nausea creeps up my throat. I retch, but nothing comes up.
“If… If… If…”
“I think what you’re trying to say,” Smith says, “is that if he’s my son, that also makes him your brother.”
I retch again, my stomach cramping, my flesh erupting in goosebumps.
Brother? I have a brother? And father? And my brother… It’s too sick to even contemplate.