Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Just one.
“Stace,” I yell as I look up. I take off in the direction he walked in. I look around frantically through the busy street. I can’t see him.
“Stace,” I call through the people. “Stace!”
What have I done? I run to the end of the street as I frantically search for him. I look back to where I came from. I can’t believe I just…
With my heartbeat hammering fast, my face screws up in tears. Oh no, what I have I done?
“Stace,” I cry. I take out my phone and ring him, but it rings out, so I text him.
Talk to me.
What’s going on?
I call him again and no answer, damn it. Why do I always fuck things up? I bounce my legs up and down as I cry. I text again.
Stace, I’m sorry.
I don’t know how to trust people.
Please talk to me.
No answer.
For an hour I walk the streets in tears as I look for him, knowing I have no one to blame but myself.
I try to call him again and this time his phone is switched off.
I really did it this time. I pushed away the first guy who was actually worth keeping.
I sit on a seat in the busy street for half an hour as I try to figure out what to do. Finally, with a heavy heart, I head back to our room. I only hope that when he calms down he will come home, although the sinking feeling in my stomach is telling me he has gone for good.
Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I see the haunted look on my mother’s face as she bled out.
Sometimes, when it’s really still, I hear her cry.
I feel like tonight she’s crying in Heaven for the mess I have made of my life.
Mess is an understatement. This is a total disaster.
I have a heavy, sad feeling on my shoulders. It’s guilt and regret all rolled into one.
I retrace the last month of my life. The memory of my ex-boyfriend and best friend kissing in the nightclub makes my eyes tear up as the betrayal iron brands me once more. The murder I witnessed and how they consequently took me. Stace… I smile when I think of my beautiful Stace. He protected me from his crew when I was at my most vulnerable. Then the nightmare when I stupidly thought I could take out Vikinos. It all seemed so clear at the time, like nothing could go wrong, but it did.
I shot the wrong man. I thought I could get revenge for Mom’s death but… I don’t know how I…
I screw up my face as the pain becomes too real to cope with.
I try my hardest to be brave, but I just never seem to get it right. I clutch the white card tight in my hand as I sit on the floor near the window in the dark, desperately hoping my love returns to me. I read the card for the millionth time.
Downtown City Jewelers
Engagement Ring Specialist
I smile as I get a vision of him on bended knee, proposing. What a fairy tale it would be. How badly I wish that dream had come true.
It wasn’t our reality and I knew that all along.
Maybe I don’t deserve happiness.
People with families like mine don’t get happy endings.
I stare out at the city below. Where are you now, Stace?
I watch the people bustle along on the street below. This place never seems to go to sleep. It’s after 1am.
Where is he?
I frown as my eyes fix on two men on the street. They aren’t acting like everyone else. They keep stopping, looking at the people around them. I sit closer to the window and really concentrate
Is that…?
I sit back. Stop it, your imagining things now. My eyes stay glued to the two men and as they come under a street light, my worst nightmare becomes my reality.
It’s Stucco and one of the men from the ship.
I scurry back from the window as my heart begins to hammer. They found us. Oh my God.
I go back and stand behind the curtain and watch them. They seem to be looking around and talking and then pointing and discussing something. They obviously don’t know which hotel we are staying at, and in slow motion, I watch them turn the corner and walk towards town… where Stace is.
Oh no.
I run to my phone and dial his number frantically.
Pick up. Pick up. Please pick up.
No answer.
Shit.
I throw the phone onto the bed in frustration and it bounces onto the floor.
What do I do? I begin to pace back and forth. It’s only a matter of time until they find us. Stace will be sitting in a bar somewhere and they will find him. He will be unprepared and have no defense.
Fuck. Why didn’t I just ask him if he took the diamonds? “Why do I have to be such a fucking idiot?” I cry out loud.