Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
He stands up too. “I’m talking about Blackberry Hill. I’m talking about what’s underneath Blackberry Hill. I’m from there. I was born there.” And then he points to the ground.
Which makes me look at the ground. And while I’m doing that I’m thinking of that gossip back when Collin rescued Lowyn from Ike Monroe.
Underground military bases.
I look back up at Erol. “It’s real?”
He exhales out a smile. It’s a small one, but that just makes it more attractive. “It’s real. You have no idea what this place is.” He pans a hand in the direction of Revenant behind me. “All of it. Disciple, Bishop, and Revenant. They’re just… cover, Rosie. And I was born into Blackberry Hill the same way you were born into Disciple. You grew up playing your part and I grew up playing mine.”
I sit back down. Because I don’t know what to say and my legs are feelin’ weak. Of all the things I imagined happening to this man who used to be the boy I loved, ‘underground military base’ never even made the top million.
“So, on my seventeenth birthday, I ran away,” Erol continues. “I went to New York. I went to Boston. I went all kinds of places. And I figured it was safe. They didn’t come get me. So I came back this way, took a job, and met a really pretty girl who just blew my mind. And we fell in love—”
“Stop it!” I yell it. “Just stop. You’re a liar.”
“I’m not lying.”
“You’re not lying now, or you weren’t lying then? Because you told me you were from Fayetteville! That you were trapping beavers or something.”
“Well, what else was I gonna say? That I grew up in an underground military base that literally exists under your feet? That I ran away because I have no choice but to work for them? Because I was born into it? I mean, at least you people out here get a choice. You can leave if you want. You choose to stay, Rosie. I never got that choice. I guess they figured they’d let me run for a year. But only a year. Because on my eighteenth birthday, as you well know, they came for me and took me back.”
“You’ve been underground this whole time? All twelve years of my son’s life? And you didn’t once think to maybe a write a letter?”
“Don’t you get it?” He’s growling at me now. But I’m not afraid of him, so he can growl all he wants. “I’m not allowed to leave. I’m not allowed to talk to people on the outside. I’m not allowed to do anything but exist in the little bubble I was born into.”
I scoff. “Well, for someone who isn’t allowed to do any of that, you sure did find a way to stalk me with letters.”
“With puzzles.”
I place both my hands over my face and scrub them down my cheeks, trying to pull myself together. When I manage that, I pull them away and look Erol in the eyes. “What do you want me to do in order to get Cross back? Because that’s why you’re here, right? You want something from me and whatever it is, you knew I’d say no. So you took my son as insurance. And I would just like to be upfront with you here, you are an evil son of a bitch, Erol Cross, for using my son like this.”
“Come with me.”
“What?”
“Come with me, Rosie. Be with me. We can all be together. I talked to them. I worked it out. They love Cross—”
“What!”
“They want him to join. You did a good job. And of course he’s half mine, so he’s half Blackberry Hill, too.”’
“What the hell kind of delusion are you living in, Erol? I’m not going anywhere with you! I want my son back and I want him back right now!” I pound the table with my fist and stand up again. “Right now!”
He pulls out a phone and before I can ask what he’s doing, he’s got it on speaker and it’s ringing. The call is picked up on the first ring. “Daddy?”
My heart sinks. And Erol is watching. His eyes are locked on mine when my son’s voice comes through the phone calling him ‘Daddy.’ I shake my head.
But Erol doesn’t care what I’m feeling. “It’s me, son. I’ve got your mama here. She wants to hear all about what you’re doin’.”
“Oh, Mom! This place is great! Did you know there’s a city underground? Right underneath Disciple! It’s got everything down here. I love it. And I’ve got my own gun now!”
“Isn’t that great, Rosie?”
Erol and I are still lockin’ eyes. And I don’t know what to say. What does a woman say when something like this—something so unbelievable, extraordinarily improbable—is happening in real time? What can she say?