Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
He didn’t release me; if anything, his grip on my hair went from uncomfortable to painful.
“Where is your family?”
What was the answer that would keep me alive? If I knew what Ares had done, then maybe I could fix this.
“They left. My stepmom took all my siblings and left while I was at work,” I told him.
He was silent for a few seconds, and I wondered if I’d said the wrong thing. Made myself a liability, and now, he was going to slice my throat.
Why was a guy who looked like this one going around killing people? He even smelled good. It was an odd thing to notice, but he was very close to me and it was hard to miss.
“Your older brother went with them?” he asked me.
I thought for a second, then decided to go with the truth. “No. He left back in June for basic training.”
“What day?” he snarled, sounding like he was ready to end me.
“Uh, I’m not sure. I think,” I stammered. But I did know. He had left the morning after Crosby was supposed to meet me and never came.
“You think?”
I swallowed and felt the sting of the blade when my throat constricted. “Yes. It’s been a rough week, okay? And you’ve got a knife at my throat.”
He yanked my hair, and the bite from the knife broke skin. A tear ran down my face, and I was afraid to breathe.
“What day did he fucking leave?”
“It was two months ago,” I whispered. “He left on a, uh … Saturday morning.”
I knew the date because I’d been looking at a calendar all that week. Counting how many days late my period was. Praying it came.
“June 22.”
The man lowered his face until it was inches from mine. “You have twenty-four hours to find him. If you try and run, I’ll kill you, then find your family and kill them too. Do you understand me?”
Lucifer. This must be how the Devil appeared. Beautiful and evil.
“Yes,” I replied.
Twenty-four hours didn’t give me much time, but I could find Nicco, his best friend, and ask him what Ares had done. I’d have to tell this man the truth about where he was. It wasn’t like he could go to boot camp and kill Ares there. He was under the Army’s protection. However, the rest of my siblings and I would have no safety net. This man could kill us.
“Clock starts ticking now,” he said as he let my hair go and the blade was taken from my neck.
I wanted to weep in relief, but stayed silent.
The man stood up. He had to be over Ares’s six foot and Crosby’s six foot two. He was definitely more fiercely built. He didn’t need a weapon to look intimidating.
I held the sheet up to my chest and waited for him to leave. I wouldn’t be going back to sleep, but I was going to go lock the door and check all the windows.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked him.
He narrowed his gaze, but in the darkness, with him that far away, I couldn’t make out his expression.
“You don’t know?”
Why would I know? Did I look like I knew?
I shook my head.
He didn’t say anything at first, but instead stared at me. As if he could see into my soul and read my secrets. I was trembling. I might be going into shock. I wasn’t sure what that felt like, but I was cold. So very cold for it to be late August in Mississippi.
“I don’t make threats I don’t keep. Find him,” the man said, then turned and headed out the door.
Was this about drugs? Had Ares gotten involved with some dealer? That man didn’t look anything like what I thought a drug lord would look like, but what did I know about the criminal world? Besides, it had been dark in here. He could have something wrong with him in the light. Maybe he had bad teeth, and I hadn’t paid attention.
The door to the house slammed closed, and I jumped up to go run and lock it. Once the bolt clicked into place, I let out a gasp, then a sob as what had just happened sank in. I’d almost died. I reached up and touched my neck, then turned to go look in the bathroom mirror. Before I got there, I knew that the warm, sticky feeling was blood, but when I saw the mark where the knife had been, my knees went weak.
Oh God. This man wanted to kill me.
I grabbed the sink, trying to overcome the wave of nausea. It hit me hard, and I barely made it to the toilet before what little food I had in me came back up, along with the water I’d drunk earlier. I continued until I was dry-heaving.
My legs went out from under me, and I sank to the floor.