Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 70525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Just the perfect way to end the evening—men invading our house with guns on Christmas Eve.
I feel like I might black out in fear of what’s happening. I clench my hands around the seat and try to be invisible, silently praying for my mom and that she won’t be too devastated when she learns that I’m dead.
Both my father and Mary cower back in their seats.
"What do you want?" my father cries.
The guy who looks like he’s in charge stands there staring us down with a hardened gaze and says, "Oh, Edwin, did you think you could hide from your debts forever?"
I’m staring at the man who’s talking to my dad, and boy, does he looks like a wall of muscle. His face is serious, and I wonder how my dad’s not completely cowering in front of him.
The man’s dark eyes dart towards me and there’s a hint of acknowledgment there. I’m afraid that now that he’s seen me, I’m suddenly a part of this.
"Um, Dad, what is going on?" My voice trembles.
These men are so intimidating. They look like criminal warlords, from an entirely different reality than my own. I feel like they could even be the mafia or something equally sinister.
"Shut the fuck up, Caroline," my father scolds me, and I feel myself turn beet red in front of these men. He looks up at the one who broke the door down.
"What do you want, Ares? Why are you here?" he asks coolly.
He does know them. Are they the kind of people he does business with, like I suspected?
He’s a little too calm, and I can’t help but wonder why. I had no idea my dad dealt with anyone who wasn’t wearing a suit.
"All we need is the money you borrowed from Archibald Cox. You know we do his bidding."
My father stammers, "I have the money. I have it. I'll get it to you in the new year."
The other man speaks up now. "We hate being lied to, Edwin. We've hacked your accounts, and we know that you’re not good for it.”
My dad gets all worked up now with this news. “I’ll have the money when I have it, Samuel, and there's nothing you can do about it. In fact, Archibald Cox can go fuck himself!"
I roll my eyes as he says this. My dad really doesn’t know how to play it cool. He has guns to his face on Christmas Eve, and he's still completely pompous and arrogant.
He's rude and selfish and his new wife isn't much better. She’s entirely consumed by possessions and all she ever talks about is how she spends my dad's money. I need them to start acting normally now.
And a normal reaction to dealing with these men is to cower and to apologize and to beg for your life.
They need to do it already or we all may end up dead.
In fact, Mary may be even stupider than my dad, as evidenced by the fact that she gets up now and drunkenly sways as she says, "Boys, you heard the man. You better get up on out of here or we will call the guard at the gate.”
“You’re ruining our dinner!” She continues. “How dare you come in here to my table and demand things of my husband. He will kill you with his bare hands."
Oh my God, she’s going to get us killed.
The men look especially angry now. I’m frozen in my seat, trying to disappear. I can’t believe she’s this stupid. I thought even Mary had more sense than to act like an idiot with three thugs waving guns in her face.
Undeterred, she continues her little rant. “I think it’s just disgusting how you would come into our house like this, you no-good assholes…"
Just then, the man called Ares turns his gun on her and shoots her right through the heart. It silences her for sure. She falls to the floor in one bloodied heap. And I’m left staring wide-eyed.
The terror that runs through my body causes me to feel ice cold. A shiver races up my spine, and for a second I close my eyes in case this is it for me too.
I can’t watch. I don’t want to see when he pulls the trigger.
I squeeze my eyes closed but then nothing happens.
I can’t believe it. I’m still alive.
Slowly, I open my eyes.
Chapter 2
Caroline
We all stare at Mary’s body on the floor. She’s dead. I can’t believe it. It’s like a nightmare come to life.
Who knew when we sat down to dinner this would be it for her?
She did spout off to these terrifying men, but still, I never would’ve wanted something like this to happen to her. Her only crime was being selfish, and whoever had to die for that?
I don’t have time to mourn right now, though, because I'm worried I may be next. I try to gaze at the floor, at her body, at anything besides the three imposing figures surrounding our table.