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)
My mind flashes back to when my stepmother died, and it makes even more sense now that my father barely flinched at her collapse. He’s a cold-blooded killer and that’s something I never thought I would have to contend with.
Now he's threatening these men, the loves of my life, and it’s just too much. I hear them trying to keep me a secret as my father repeatedly demands to know where I am. No one will confess; they won’t give me up. Then there are gunshots, and I’m terrified some of the guys are wounded. My heart clenches inside my chest. Who is it? Who’s been injured? I pray to God that it’s not fatal, that none of them die.
Edwin demands yet again to know where I am, and this time, I know what I have to do. I have to come forward to save these men. I can't have any one of them giving their life for me.
I step out of the shadows and say, "I'm right here."
Archibald and my father have looks of pure evil vengeance on their faces, but what they don't see or expect is the gun I'm wielding behind my back.
My father screams out and points his gun directly at my face. He pulls the trigger wildly at his own daughter, but I don’t flinch at all as the gun clicks away. Not a single bullet is left.
"Caroline…you finally decided to join us," Archibald says calmly. "I was beginning to think you were going to leave your precious little toys to collect dust! It’s a shame you had to go and ruin my men, you know. We had such a nice thing going until you fucked it all up. In more ways than one."
"Cut the shit, ‘Uncle,’" I say. "You can’t expect me to not know what goes on around me, right?"
He lowers his eyes. "No matter. We can discard you just like my sister. And it will be no problem to pin it all on these seven dogs."
I notice Archibald’s hand snaking into his jacket. He whips out a silver pistol and points it directly at me, but I’m faster. I whip the handgun out from behind my back and fire a bullet directly between his wide, surprised eyes.
Then I turn the gun on my father, the man who was about to kill me for my inheritance, and all the years of pain and angst come rushing back.
It's as if I'm seeing my old life before my eyes, all that time with my father, and it was all a lie. Every bit of it. He never loved me, no matter how hard I tried to earn his affection. No matter what I did.
And more than that, I know he'd love nothing more than to see me and the only men who have ever made me happy...well, he'd like to see us dead, six feet under.
"You wanted to kill me, Daddy, but what you haven't yet learned is that I'm stronger than you ever imagined. If you knew anything at all about me, you would have noticed. And that’s going to be your downfall. I'm stronger than you because I will defend the people I love. You can no longer hurt me."
I release the safety on my handgun and it clicks, the sound resonating in the now-silent room. My father gives me a pleading look, and desperate words fall from his lips; he’s begging me to hear him but all the words jumble together and I don't hear any of it.
All I see is his pathetic face as I grit my teeth and curl my finger, pulling the trigger.
And then he’s just...gone. Extinct.
I know it was either him or me, but I still crumple down to the floor. The gun is shaking in my trembling hands, and the acrid stench of gunpowder fills my nose. I can’t believe it’s all finally over.
The overwhelming feeling of loss finally catches up with me. I’m stuck in shock at the fact I’ll never see my mother again. And, monster that he was, my father was still a piece of my life, and I just removed that with my own two hands. Who am I?
The carefree days of my childhood vanish, and all I can see is this world of sinfulness that I've become caught up in. Still, I can't say I totally despise who this Caroline is. The real me has come out at last, but to kill my own father is a step farther than I ever expected to take.
I'm in a daze, and one of the guys picks me up. I can't tell who it is. I’m so shocked and tormented, lost in my own thoughts, that everything around me is a blur of activity.
"Let's take her back to headquarters." Ares.
"Okay, get her in the car." Apollo.