Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Things were complicated with my dad, but I’m still working it out. I got stuck in Greece and I was staying with a man named Perico, I’ve known him since I was little, but he’s dead now too and—” I stop myself as tears roll down my cheeks. “It’s been a mess.”
“Oh, god, Kacia,” Adrienne says and sound like she’s genuinely upset. “I wish I could’ve been there for you.”
“Thanks, but it’s not your fault. I disappeared, remember?”
“I know, but still. You shouldn’t have to do it alone. Are you with anyone now?”
“Yeah, I’m with people. And I’m safe.” Mostly.
“I guess I can tell the cops to stop searching for you, as if they were doing anything anyway.”
“Really, I’m safe, but I can’t talk about where I am or what’s going on. I know that’s super shady but it’s kind of an… ongoing situation.”
She’s quiet for a second. Then she says, “As long as you’re safe, I won’t press. Kacia, I know we’ve had secrets, I mean, half the student body at Blackwoods were related to the mafia in some way. You know my family is kind of—” She stops herself and clears her throat. “I’m just happy to hear from you.”
“Do you have a little while to talk? I want to hear about what you’ve been doing since I’ve been away.”
“When my best friend rises from the dead and randomly calls me, I can make time. So, what have I been doing the last three months…”
She tells me about work, about friends, about guys and going out and being normal. She also talks about searching for me, about obsessively going through news for an American girl kidnapped in Greece or something like that, how she even found an article about my father and brother dying in that boat explosion a few weeks into my disappearance and worried I was with them.
But mostly, life continued, just like life keeps on going now.
“There has been this weird thing though,” she says. “I’m on the way out the door, I gotta get to work, but I keep noticing these guys hanging around my neighborhood.”
My blood suddenly goes cold. “Guys hanging around?”
“Yeah, it’s these two guys sitting in this white van. They’re always around like smoking cigarettes and listening to the radio. I didn’t really think anything of it, but they were there last night, and I just saw them right now as I pulled out of the parking lot. It’s really weird.”
“Adrienne,” I say slowly and it’s like I’m stuck in molasses.
“Don’t worry about it, seriously, I’m fine. I shouldn’t have even said anything. You know how LA can be, it’s full of weirdos and failed actors and all that. I bet they’re just two plumbers looking for work or whatever, like unemployed Mario brothers.”
“Hold on, can you—”
“Hey, I have to go. Sorry, you know how it is, driving around here is so absolutely awful. But can I call you later? On this number?”
“Yeah, call me, but hey, be careful.”
“I always am. I love you, girl, I’m glad you’re okay. Talk to you soon.”
She hangs up and I sit there staring at the phone.
That night, I stare at the ceiling and can’t sleep.
Luca rolls onto his side and soon his breathing goes steady and rhythmic. He doesn’t snore—I only say that to piss him off—but he does rumble. Sometimes, he mutters in his sleep, like he’s whispering to himself. It freaked me out the first time I heard it but now, when he grumbles something and changes positions, it’s almost a comfort.
It means he’s deep asleep and won’t be waking up anytime soon.
All day I’ve been thinking about what Adrienne said. Two guys in a white van outside of her apartment complex. It has to be a coincidence—just a couple of down-and-out actors looking around for a job, right? Adrienne has always had a good sense for danger, even back when we were undergrads. She had a sixth sense for that sort of thing and was constantly warning me away from certain guys. He’s got a bad vibe, like he kicks puppies. More often than not, she was right.
If she doesn’t think it’s a problem then I don’t need to either. So I can just close my eyes and go to sleep.
Instead, sleep doesn’t come.
For the last three months, my life’s been controlled and prescribed. In Greece, it was Perico keeping me locked away in my father’s compound for my own good. Now it’s Luca keeping me locked in his suite all because my life would be in danger out there.
But I care about people outside of this house. Adrienne and Ceris and Libby are basically the only people I have left in the world, and if any of them are in trouble, I can’t let myself sit in this bed and pretend like everything is okay.