Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 114551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Then with my hand shoved halfway up his fucking ass, I shove hard and get the rest of his torso through. His arms fall out the other side, and I feel Zade balance him, ready to catch him when he falls through. Sawyer adjusts Dalton’s body, keeping the knife safe, and with one more shove, Dalton falls out to the street.
With Sawyer still losing blood, I stand in close as he grips the window frame and hoists himself out just in case he needs me, and as the heat in the room gets almost too much to bear, I almost push the fucker out, quickly running out of time. The second I hear Sawyer’s feet hit the ground, I follow suit, my lungs screaming for fresh air.
The frame is hot under my hands, but I withstand the pain as I pull myself through, twisting my shoulders as I feed my body through the small hole. Once I’m on the other side, I hastily spin around and throw myself to the ground, finding Zade hovering over Dalton as Sawyer takes off up the street, most likely to find another entrance into the building to make sure Cara and his mom are alright.
Dalton is laid out on the sidewalk with Zade’s hand clutched around the hilt of the knife. Without hesitation, I tear off my suit jacket and grip the bottom of my shirt, tearing it into strips to use as a bandage. Zade clenches his jaw, not enjoying inflicting pain on any of us, but he’ll do whatever the fuck he has to do to care for the people he loves. “Good thing he’s out cold,” Zade grunts, his fist tightening around the knife before quickly yanking it out.
“AHH FUCK,” Dalton roars, his eyes springing open.
Well, shit. Perhaps he wasn’t as passed out as we thought.
Blood quickly seeps from the wound as I drop down beside Dalton and tightly wrap the makeshift bandage around his thigh, trying to control the bleeding, but it’s clear that the knife didn’t hit an artery. Hell, it’s gonna take a shitload more than just an explosion to take one of us out.
“Fucking hell,” Dalton grunts, dragging his hand over his face as he peers up at the burning building. Zade slips his arm around Dalton’s back, not giving him even a second to ease into the pain, but we don’t have time. If Sawyer doesn’t play this right, he’ll end up killing himself searching for Cara in there.
We take off after Sawyer, and I don’t miss the way Zade’s sharp gaze looks up and down the street for Oakley, despite knowing damn well that she’s long gone. Though I commend her efforts to get away and hope like fuck she can somehow survive this, she should know better. There’s nowhere she can go where Zade DeVil won’t find her.
Fuck, just the thought of it darkens my soul. There’s not a single part of me that doesn’t belong to Oakley Quinn, and it kills me that this is what she’s being reduced to—a fucking power play in Empire’s wicked games.
I hope she fucking runs to the end of the world and doesn’t dare look back. At least for ten more days and then after that . . . I don’t know. She can’t come back here. Once word of her lineage gets around, that she, a woman, is the real blood heir, she will be slaughtered like cattle. There’s no surviving this. The threat she holds to the many who want to take Zade’s place is unfathomable.
Even with us at her back, even if Zade forfeits his claim to rule, Oakley will never be free.
Turning the corner, I quickly take in the chaos before me.
The road outside the main entrance of the ballroom is flooded with people, each one of them in a different state of shock. People are bleeding, screaming, crying, and fretting. Ambulances wail in the distance, but there’s no way in hell this city has enough to cater to all the injuries here tonight.
I spot a few of The Circle members racing around and caring for the wounded, and despite looking haggard and dirty, they appear just fine. We get deeper into the fray when I pull Dalton’s arm off from around my neck. “Stay out here and help where you can. I’m going after Sawyer.”
He nods, and as I spare a glance toward Zade, I see him scanning the faces of the crowd, desperation flashing in his eyes. “She’s not here,” I spit through a clenched jaw, demanding his attention. “She’s gone. Get it through your fucking head. Tonight, you help your people. Lead them. Prove to them that you have what it takes to stand in your father’s shoes and be their hope, be everything your father wasn’t. Then tomorrow when the ash has settled, we get our girl.”