Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Breathe, Trinity. Breathe, I told myself.
I began to pace. The grip on my throat dug in deeper. It wasn’t going to stop.
My legs buckled under me, and I kicked off the heels and pulled my knees to my chin, wrapping my arms around my legs. This was the only way I could find comfort. Closing my eyes, I began to rock.
Block it out. Block it all out.
It would end soon. Soon. It would end soon.
Twenty-Six
Huck
“It’s Trinity. You need to come with me.” The look on Gage’s face was a mixture most didn’t see and live to tell about it. Something was very fucking bad.
“What happened?” I asked as I walked out of Garrett’s office.
“I don’t fucking know, but there’s a son of a bitch who might have seen his last sunrise.”
Frustration over not getting more information and seeing the rage in Gage’s eyes was quickly turning to fear. Where the fuck was Trinity?
“She ran in the house. I can’t find her,” Gage said, turning and looking down the hallway as if the answer would appear.
I pulled my phone from my coat pocket and clicked the app that tracked her. I’d put it on her phone before I gave it back to her the day we took her.
“This way,” I said, stalking past Gage.
My heart was fucking slamming against my chest. I’d left her out there for maybe forty minutes. What the fuck could have happened?
“Who was she with?” I asked as I continued toward the library.
“I don’t know him. I haven’t asked yet. I’ve been looking for her. But his fucking face is memorized.”
My entire body tensed up. Someone had fucked with what belonged to me. Gage wasn’t killing anyone. That was my fucking job.
I grabbed the doorknob to the library and turned. It was locked. Fuck! I pounded my fist on the door.
“Trinity!” I called out.
No answer.
I tried again.
Nothing.
“Don’t rip the door off. Where’s Garrett? Or Ms. Jimmie?” Gage asked.
I didn’t fucking know. Garrett had left me in his office to look over some footage from a security camera. I had no clue where he’d gone after. I pounded on the door again, calling her name.
“Lord, what a racket,” Ms. Jimmie, the Hugheses’ cook and house manager, was walking toward us with a key ring in her hand. “Step aside, boy. I’ll open it up. Don’t know why it’s locked.”
She rattled the keys while she found the correct one, then slid it inside. When the door swung open, she stepped back. “Leave it unlocked when you leave, boys,” she said. I pushed by her, and my eyes scanned the dark room until they landed on Trinity.
FUCK!
I rushed over to the corner where she was rocking on the floor. Her knees tucked under her chin and her eyes closed tightly. She was muttering something, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying.
“Jesus Christ,” Gage said behind me.
“Trinity, look at me, baby,” I said as gently as I could.
She kept rocking. I battled with what to do. What was happening? She clearly hadn’t heard me. This was what Maddy had seen. This shit was not okay. What horrific trauma would cause this?
I cupped her face with my hand. “Trinity, please, baby. Open your eyes and look at me.”
She paused her rocking a moment, and the muttering stopped, but her eyes stayed tightly closed.
I brushed my thumb over her cheek. “It’s me. Open your eyes. You’re okay. I’m here.”
She sucked in air as if she was struggling to breathe. What the fuck was happening now? I’d never felt so helpless in my life.
“She’s choking.” Gage sounded panicked. “Why the fuck is she choking?”
I didn’t know!
“Trinity, you’re okay. You can breathe, baby. Please take a deep breath.” It was all I could do to keep my voice calm.
She gasped loudly and let out a cry. That was it. I couldn’t handle any more of this. I pulled her into my arms and carried her to the leather sofa. I sat down, cradling her, and she started breathing normally again. Her hands had released her knees, and I watched as her eyelashes fluttered open. When her eyes met mine, she froze for a moment, then threw her arms around my neck, clinging to me as if her life depended on it. A loud, heart-wrenching sob shook her body. It was followed by another. I’d never heard anyone cry like this. Knowing something had hurt her so badly that it caused this kind of reaction was fucking unbearable.
Someone was going to die a very brutal death. I didn’t know who yet, but I would. I held her tightly, whispering in her ear. Promising her that she was okay. I had her. No one could get to her. I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She continued to sob, ripping me to fucking shreds with each pitiful wail.