Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“No!” It was muffled against the brute’s hand who held me hostage against his body.
“He’s lucky it was painless this time…so much less than he deserved for his betrayal.”
Rage and heartbreak cleaved through my soul, and I kicked and thrashed against the man, no chance of breaking free of his arms. But I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
“No!” I shouted again. He held his palm so tightly over my mouth I thought I would suffocate.
Still, I fought.
Fought and wailed.
Every one of my cries was muffled and pained.
The monster in front of me cocked his head. “You see, I’m just not the type of man who can look the other way when people don’t honor their commitments to me. I’d taken both Milo and Robert in. Nurtured them. Gave them a chance. Treated them like sons. They’re the ones who turned their backs on me. Ruined what I’d built. I think it’s only fair that I’m repaid my generosity, don’t you?”
FORTY-FOUR
MILO
I stared vacantly at the placid blue waters while my insides boiled and raved, my guts a snarl of shock and foreboding. The mess of it was tossed with the heartbreak that severed me through.
Had known all along I couldn’t give. That I couldn’t fall. That I didn’t deserve the light that was Tessa McDaniels because I was just going to stamp it out.
Smother her beauty with the depravity.
I just never could have imagined the tragedy it was going to be.
That our lives could collide quite like this.
I roughed my hands through my hair, fighting the panic as I paced the edge of the lake farthest from my house, unable to sit still within the vacancy of its walls, the hollowness screaming too loud.
Bobby.
Fuck.
I choked out the disbelief that was coated in pain.
All these years, I’d thought Immortal was dead.
Guilt slashed through me like a blade, a sharp pain driven directly into my soul.
I deserved this, didn’t I?
Should have known it was going to catch up to me.
The only thing I could do now was stop Stefan before the bastard destroyed anyone else.
Gulping down the chaos that spun through the summer air, I let determination slip into my consciousness.
Let the vengeance take over.
I couldn’t sit still and wait for something else to happen.
It was time this debt was paid.
I turned and began to weave my way back around the lake. The trail wound around the perimeter, sometimes dipping into the forest in the areas where the beach was rocky. My footsteps were quick as I made my way around, resolution lining my bones, the prayer on my tongue that I could see this through.
My chest tightened as I broke through the line of trees, and the back of my cabin came into view. The treehouse stood proud while my shame oozed from the walls and spread out over the atmosphere in a murky gloom.
Like the rays of sunlight couldn’t quite break through.
I hustled through the gate, crossed the lawn, and bounded up the porch steps.
I yanked open the door and strode inside so I could grab my keys and continue the hunt I’d started last night.
Though this time, I wouldn’t stop until I found him.
I was at close to a jog when I stalled out, because in my periphery, I noticed a car outside through the front windows. My eyes narrowed as I moved that way and saw it sitting with the driver’s door wide open.
It took me a second to recognize it was Eden’s.
My spirit clutched.
Tessa was here.
And fuck, how could I face her? How would she ever look at me the same? But I unlocked the front door and burst out there, anyway.
Only I slowed when I felt the stillness that bound the air, the only movement the limbs of the trees waving in the breeze.
“Tessa?”
My gaze scanned the area.
“Tessa?” I shouted that time.
Silence echoed back.
My heart climbed to my throat as a sticky dread prickled across my flesh.
“Tessa!” Shouted it again as I jumped down the steps and hit the ground running.
I searched the car. It was empty.
I ran up the drive a few hundred yards, searched the line of trees, shouting her name.
Anxiety clutched me as I darted around back.
I prayed I’d just missed her. That she was looking for me, too.
And I was calling and calling her name.
My girl who’d changed everything.
The one who’d lit that dead spot that now screamed inside me.
Silence echoed back.
Relentless.
Overbearing.
Crushing.
Panic seized me, and I went running back inside through the back door, flying to the kitchen counter where I’d plugged in my phone after I’d come crawling back here after dawn.
I’d spent the night searching.
Hunting.
Scouring every place I thought the fucker might be and coming up empty.
A ghost again.
No trace.
But I knew he was here.
Lurking.
Hiding.
Lying in wait.
I yanked my cell from the cord.
Horror wheezed out of me when I saw the text.