Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
I made a hasty exit, not wanting to intrude on their reunion. Glancing around, I was relieved to see everyone we’d brought with us still breathing. Several of them stood in the center of the room talking while a few others dragged the dead bodies out the back door. Their fixer waited outside to collect them.
Fox’s head lifted, and when he spotted me, he jerked his chin to the side to indicate that I should join them.
“We think we’ve got a location for the men who collected the money.”
I was glad to hear it, but those guys were just lackeys. We needed to find the mastermind behind the kidnapping. “Any luck figuring out who they work for?”
Blakely
“Blakely. Wake up, sweetheart.”
My dad’s gritty voice penetrated my sleep, and I slowly woke. Knowing he was there stopped the panic from overtaking me, and I took a deep breath as my eyes fluttered, then opened. I’d been home almost a week, but I still had to remind myself that I was safe every time I woke up.
“Hey, there, ladybug,” he greeted me with a strained smile.
“Daddy?” I struggled to sit up.
Gently, he helped me into a sitting position, then smoothed my hair back away from my face.
“I love you more than anything. You know that, right?”
I smiled and nodded. “I love you too, Daddy.” Glancing around my room, I frowned when I realized the sun hadn’t come up yet. “What time is it?”
“Early, sweetheart. I…I just needed to see you and…” He sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands. “I just…I couldn’t let it go, Blakely. They had to be punished.”
“What?” I was confused by what he was saying, but something in his tone and expression had the panic threatening to cut off my air again.
“I couldn’t take the risk that they would come for you again, ladybug. Even if it meant not seeing you grow up.”
“What?” My voice hit a high pitch, and my heart beat hard against my ribs. “What do you mean? Daddy—”
“Saber.” A deep voice from the doorway interrupted me. A voice I’d come to know well since I’d been brought home. One that made me feel safe and happy.
Gideon took a step inside, and his face softened when he looked at me. But unlike most times when he saw me, his lips didn’t curve into a playful smile.
His brown eyes shifted to my dad, and he grunted, “They're here.”
“I need you to stay here, sweetheart,” my dad said, his tone earnest.
“But—”
“No buts, Blakely. Promise me that you will stay in your room until the sun comes up.” I opened my mouth, but he gently grabbed my arms and demanded, “Promise me.”
“I’ll stay with you, Blakely,” Gideon told me.
“Okay,” I whispered.
My dad kissed my forehead and gave me a tight hug. “I love you, ladybug. Never forget that.”
“I love you too, Daddy.” I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something was wrong. A feeling of dread settled over me.
He stood and faced Gideon. “You promised you’d take care of her,” Dad said.
“You have my word.” Gideon tilted his head to the side and studied my dad for a moment. “I will make sure she’s protected and taken care of, but it’s not me she needs, Saber. She needs her dad.”
My dad inhaled raggedly, his shoulders slumping forward. “I just…I couldn’t let them get away with it.”
Gideon’s voice was low when he replied, but the room was so quiet that I still managed to hear him. “And now she’s paying for it all over again.”
“I know…” My dad sighed and glanced over at me; his blue eyes, like mine, filled with something sad. “Love you, ladybug. I hope you can forgive me.”
Then he stalked out of the room. I threw my covers off and hurried to follow him, but Gideon scooped me into his arms and moved to the rocking chair by the head of my bed, then sat down, keeping me cuddled in his arms.
“You promised, Blakely,” he murmured.
“He’s not coming back, is he?” I sniffed as my throat clogged and my vision blurred.
“No.”
“I’m going to be all alone.”
Gideon put a finger under my chin and gently lifted my head. “I won’t always be right by your side, Blakely. But you aren’t alone. I’ll always be there for you. Always.”
Something in the way he promised me so fiercely helped to soothe my fear. I believed him. Gideon would never let me feel all alone.
1
BLAKELY
The light barely streamed between the slats of the blinds in my bedroom when I rolled over with a groan at the knock on my bedroom door. “Yeah?”
“Time to get up, Blakely. Pancakes are ready,” my foster mother called.
“Okay.”
Flinging the covers off, I sighed as I climbed out of bed. One of the best parts of winter break was being able to sleep in, but I knew I wouldn’t get the chance to today.