Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
I don’t know why, but I fall with him, dropping before him, my hands shaking, my subconscious telling me to cover his wound. To apply pressure to the spot and save his life, even though I’m the one that just threatened to take it.
Slowly, his eyes come up to mine, and the softness within them, the love and commitment and devotion that shines back, rattles me to my core, and a bubbled cry escapes. My vision is completely blurred now as his bloody hands move up, gently covering my cheeks and the softest of touches.
He nods and I grip his wrists.
“Sai—” I choke, but he only shakes his head.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he whispers, his touch growing colder by the second. His words are a plea, begging me to understand that he understands. That he knows me well and he knows exactly what I’ve done and why I’ve done it.
I don’t understand it.
“I …”
“It’s okay,” he repeats yet again, his tone somehow managing to grow even gentler. “It’s time. My job is done now. My oath is complete. The safe. Everything he searches for is in the safe,” he stresses and then a ghost of a smile curves his lips as he says, “tell him I won the bet and that I had no doubt.”
Confusion whirls in my head, and when he falls back, I fall with him, flicking open his jacket as I inspect the damage I’ve done. His riddles make no sense. His words mean nothing to me in this moment, and I’m torn between stabbing him a second time and begging someone to try and save him.
“I didn’t even have to bring him to you …” His voice trails off into a mumbled whisper as his hands fall to his sides, and with his very last breath, he shares, “You found him on your own.”
And then he’s gone.
A choked cry escapes, and everyone huddles around, but I don’t even have time to process what I’ve done, what has happened, and what he has said because, in the next moment, a loud rumble fills the air, and everyone shoots to their feet.
Our eyes dart around every surface as the ground shakes, guns are pulled from wherever they are hidden, the soft clicks and barrels sound as a bullet is released into the chamber, and then the loudest of crashes.
We gasp, standing back as the hundred-year-old wall crumbles at the back of the property line, a giant tank rolling right over the archery zone, crumbling into nothing beneath its giant tires.
Guns are pointed.
The door is thrown open.
A man steps out.
I gasp and then I hear the first shot fired, fire and panic flooding my ears as I dart forward on instinct, a bullet scraping along the edge of my thigh before I hear the demand for a cease-fire.
I pant, planted between my people and the giant shadow that’s slowly making its way toward us. Toward me.
It’s tall, trim and nearly invisible beneath the dark night sky. I shield my eyes as he steps in front of the blinding lights of the tank, my pulse hammering in my chest.
And then the lights click off.
I blink in to focus, and then I fall to my knees for the second or maybe third time tonight, but this time, in pure relief.
Finally …
Chapter 33
Bass
Two Hours Earlier
Slowly, I climb to my feet, making my way over to the man strapped up like a sacrifice but loose enough not to cause any damage unless I decide I want it to. That’s not why we’re here though.
His muscles constrict, the veins in his neck throbbing alongside the one on his temple as he growls around the gag, the heavy yank of the chains clanking around the room and echoing off the high ceiling.
My smirk only grows and I don’t pause until I’m right in front of him and slowly remove the gag from over his mouth.
As expected, the threats start instantly.
“I will fucking destroy you, boy. You have no idea what you’ve done. I’ll have you in pieces and sent back to whoever it is that paid you to come here. I can promise you no amount of money would ever be worth what I’m going to do to you when this is over.”
I smile, jerking my head to the side when he spits, just as I knew he would.
Making a show of looking all around, I slowly bring my eyes back to his. “Not sure what you’re seein’, old man, but it looks to me like I’m the one running the show.”
He scoffs an obnoxious sound but clamps his teeth shut into a snarl when the basement door clanks open, simultaneously slamming shut with a loud thud, alerting us both to a new arrival.
His eyes are alert, keen and flicking around every single inch of the place as he waits for who I’m assuming he believes is the boss, the big bad man who “paid me” to bring him here. So, when it’s only my boy Hayze who walks through, his eyes narrow, more of that confusion filtering across his face, but he tries to keep himself as guarded as possible. I’d say he’s doing pretty well, but over the last few months, I’ve become familiar with his many expressions, so it’s easy for me to see when his mask slips over his face.