Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“And there’s no one else?”
She bites her lip.
“Who, Savannah? Who can do it?”
“There’s one person, but I don’t know how to get in touch with him. I haven’t heard from him in a while. I don’t even know where he is.”
Jealousy erupts in my gut. “He?”
“It’s not what you think. I’m talking about my brother Vinnie.”
“Perfect,” I say. “You don’t want Leif involved in this, but this is something he can do from the safety of his own home. He can find your brother.”
“No one knows where my brother is,” she says. “Don’t you think my family has tried to find him?”
“Are you sure he’s still alive?”
Her eyes close, and when she opens them, a lone tear falls out of one.
I gently wipe the tear from her cheek. “I’m sorry, Savannah.”
“It’s something that’s crossed my mind more than once,” I say. “But I do truly believe he’s alive. I think we would know if he’d died. I’m sure he’s put something in place so that we’d be notified. Or at least that I would be notified.”
“But you’re not sure?”
“He’s my big brother, Falcon. He’s always held a special place in his heart for me. When he left the family, he and I had a talk. He told me that even though he wouldn’t be here, he would always be in my heart and I’d be in his. That it killed him most to leave me.”
“Were you close to your other brother?”
“Not quite as close, though Michael and I were closer in age. But Michael’s gone, after he married Miles’s cousin. So it makes me wonder…”
“Makes you wonder what?”
“I always assume the McAllisters had something to do with Michael’s death. But I think maybe I was wrong.”
“Why would you think that? Why would they have Miles’s cousin’s husband killed?”
“Because that’s the way it works sometimes in these families. They don’t care whose spouse they’re knocking off. To them it’s just business. But because they’re coming so hard after me, it makes me think Michael was the key, and someone else had him offed.”
“I’m sorry this is so hard for you to talk about.”
She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath in, and then exhales slowly. “He was my brother. I loved him. And yes, it’s hard to talk about, but I think I have to. We need to figure out—” Her stomach lets out a growl.
“Hungry?”
“Yes, I am. I threw up my whole dinner. So now my stomach’s a void.”
“Come on. Let’s go to the kitchen. I could eat as well.” I rise from the bed, go to the closet, and find bathrobes for Savannah and me. I hand one to her. “Come on. Put this on.”
“Is it okay to have the lights on?” she asks.
“Yeah. No one can see the lights from the outside. The windows are lightproof and soundproof.”
“You guys really thought of everything.”
“Hawk did.” I frown. “God, I hate to bring him into this.”
“If Leif can find Vinnie, maybe we won’t have to,” she says.
But already I know.
I’m bringing Hawk in.
He’s the most like me, and he’ll be able to help.
When we get to the kitchen, I open the refrigerator. It’s full of fresh produce, so that’s what we’ll eat first. The freezer is full of meat. “I’ve got bread and deli meat,” I say. “Sandwiches?”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Good, because we have to eat all the stuff in the refrigerator before it spoils. After that, unless we can get someone to bring us fresh food, we’ll be getting into the survival food.”
“Survival food?”
“Freeze dried stuff. The kind you take when you go camping.”
“I’ve never been camping.”
“Really? Well then, Savannah, when we get out of this, I’m taking you camping.”
“You eat freeze-dried food? You don’t live off the land?”
“Oh, we do. But you always have to have a backup plan. Sometimes the hunting and fishing is bad. You have to have backup so you don’t starve.”
“Why don’t you just go home when the hunting and fishing is bad?” she asks.
I let out a chuckle. “You really don’t get camping.”
“How could I? I just told you I’ve never been.”
I pull out the loaf of bread and some deli meats and cheese. I grab some mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato.
“Here, let me help.” Savannah takes the tomato from me. “You know where anything is?”
“Nope. We’ll just have to search, but the kitchen should be fully stocked with everything we could need.”
She begins opening and closing cupboards and drawers until she finds a cutting board. “Voilà.” Next she searches and finds a knife, and then slices the tomato and pulls leaves off the head of lettuce.
I go through the cupboards until I find plates. Soon, we each have a sandwich ready. I grab two bottles of water out of the fridge.
“Is there any booze here?” she asks.
“I don’t think Hawk would’ve left bourbon out.”
“I could sure use a drink,” she says.