Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Knowing Dante, he call River, but I don’t want my brother coming here. I don’t want him to meet our mother. She’s a heartless monster. Seeing her might send him back into therapy when he’s only just healed.
But then again, maybe it will give us the opportunity to get our revenge on the woman who destroyed our lives. My head’s in a mess as various scenarios play out in my mind, like a movie reel on repeat. All of them end in death and destruction.
I’ve been held captive before. The only difference now is Harper is with me. I’m guessing she must be in a nearby cell, but the walls are far too thick to get her attention.
Just then, the door opens. The metal scraping across concrete makes a harsh, squeaking sound that grates on my nerves.
“Boss wants to see you now,” the guard tells me. I recognize his face from earlier. he was one of the men who brought me in here.
“What is your boss intending to do with me?”
He doesn’t reply. Instead, he gestures with his head, and I know there’s no point in fighting him, because the other guards will come. I sigh and make my way out of the cold, damp cell and up a set of stairs that brings me into a large cellar.
“Move.” The deep voice booms.
The guard shoves me, and as I stumble forward, a door opens in front of me, and I can see there are more steps to climb.
When we reach the main floor of the house, the bright sunshine streaming through the windows blinds me for a moment. The guard grips my arm harshly, and he practically drags me through the hallway and into the living room.
In the room are Bane and my mother. I should be scared, but I’m not. All my life I wanted to come face-to-face with her, but now she’s sitting looking at me as if I’m a stranger, and I feel nothing. I’m empty. Broken.
“Sit,” Bane says as he gestures to a wooden chair opposite him. “I think perhaps you should listen to your mother’s story before you make any judgment on her choices.”
“I’m not interested in her story,” I bite back while failing to obey his order to sit down.
I don’t want to be sitting in front of these two. Instead, I would much prefer it if they both dropped dead.
“You’re just like her,” he muses with a chuckle.
“I’m nothing like that monster.” I can’t bring myself to look at my mother as I grit out the words. My teeth are clenched so tight I can feel my jaw ticking.
Bane shakes his head as he glances at my mother before turning his attention back to me.
“I think you’ll fetch a pretty penny, despite your age,” he addresses me.
“I’m not for sale.”
“You’ve spent most of your life in captivity. Do you really think you’ll be able to live a normal life?” he asks as he tips his head to the side, and his stare penetrates right through my armor.
I want to run and hide like the frightened child I used to be, trying to escape the monsters who owned me.
“I am living a normal life,” I tell him, swallowing back my fear and squaring my shoulders. “I bet I’m nothing like you expected.”
“True.” He nods, pushing up from his seat, and I fight the urge to flinch when he nears me. “You’re not as broken as I thought you would be. But there are things I know about you that might shock your new family. They won’t see you in the same light once they know the truth. Maybe then, returning to captivity will be more appealing to you.”
I’m not sure what he’s talking about. I could call his bluff, but I have a feeling he’s not just saying this to scare me. There’s clearly some truth to his words.
“Maybe we should bring your lover out here, so she can see for herself,” he suggests.
There’s a challenge in his stare that makes my body tremble. Ice runs down my spine as I consider the potential consequences of what I’m about to learn, and what Harper is about to see. Even though I’m not sure what the hell he knows, it has to be something detrimental to the life I’ve built with Dante and her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” This time, the confidence I had earlier is sorely lacking from my words. I hate how much power this man has over me.
“Bane, let’s not toy with the girl.” My mother’s voice is foreign to me.
Hearing her speak sends both rage and sadness coursing through me. She’s nothing more to me than a stranger and a monster. But she’s not hiding under my bed, she’s sitting right in front of me. I finally shift my eyes to look at her, only to see a reflection of myself. I am the spitting image of her.