Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Falling down to the ground, I wrap my arms around my legs, forcing them to my chest and resting my cheek on my knees. Why? Why is this happening, and what did I do to him for him to do this?
Closing my eyes, I rock silently back and forward, counting down from one hundred.
Ninety-nine
Ninety-eight
Ninety-seven
My eyes pop open when I hear a crack from somewhere deep in the maze. Shooting to my feet, I run through the way I came, passing hedge after hedge. I keep running, following an unknown path as my chest burns and my eyes sting with tears. My mind spins around and the hedges that were stationary start merging together to form colors around me. Warped together like a haze of smoke, I trip backward and lose my footing, everything going black.
I sit on the bench seat at the front of the chapel, my knee jiggling and the familiar mask clasped in my hand. The half human bone mask is littered with markings, and I trace the indentation of carvings over the years. Line after line cut into it. I lose count toward the end. One. Two. Three. Four. Strike. And repeat.
“Hangman…” His voice is like a thread of warning. I knew that one day, I’d drive my knife through his skull. It was just a matter of time and safety. I couldn’t do it with so much to fucking lose all the time. Poppy was always my biggest concern, but now with Ruby? Fuck if I know what I’m doing.
My knee stops, and I keep my eyes locked on the Virgin Mary statue that stands at the altar of the chapel. Her hands are closed around rosary beads before they trail down to an upside-down cross. Blood spills from her eyes, and part of her body is covered in a black cloak. This isn’t about religion, it’s about power.
“She’s not reacting well, as expected.” He takes a seat beside me on the bench and I have to fight with myself to not kill him right now. Finally, my eyes trail up to his face, to where his suit ends and the rough edges of his jaw begin.
“Mmmhmm.” I roll my lips behind my teeth to stop from doing something animalistic like biting his fucking face off.
Shit. I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into me. I’ve known him all of my life, Poppy’s life. He’s done all kinds of shit to both of us—more than both of us, to many people and kids—and not once had I ever felt this kind of rage. I can feel the violence in my bones humming against every logical thought process inside my head. Like I can almost feel the sharp talons of time scraping down the side of my skull.
“You got what you wanted.” Slowly, I turn my body toward him. “Now where’s Poppy?”
He doesn’t answer, his eyes remaining focused on Mother Mary. His shoulders are squared back, his control unwavering.
“Do you remember when you were a little boy and you tried to run away?”
I bite back a growl, because for once in my life his restraint—his controlled candor—fucking irks me. “How could I forget? That was pretty much when you made me your favorite toy.”
He doesn’t smile, but his cheek twitches and a slight cackle escapes his mouth. “Ha. That’s probably being a little too optimistic, young one.” It wasn’t. I remember every single day I spent with him like it was imprinted into my brain. Someone once told me that the older you got, the less you remembered as a child. It was the reason why we couldn’t remember some memories. It’s a lie. I remember fucking everything.
“What did you want with Ruby?”
Ruby La Rosa has been my subject for a lot longer than she’s known. Both her and her father. The truth is, the people who are after them are a lot worse than their mafia. And by the way I slipped into their family exactly to plan, I’d say that Victor would also know that by now.
“Ahh—” He touches the tip of his nose, finally shifting his body around to look at me.
Skully is not someone you want to make an enemy out of. Everyone knows that. But he is only one of the worst people you could meet. There is another who is just as bad. One who makes my skin itch any time I think about him. Or the fact that he can very well be the reason why Skully wants Ruby. Would I have brought her here if I had known that? I don’t know. “The famous question…” He pauses, and I hate when he does that. I’ve never seen him raise his voice. Never seen even a flash of anger on his face. Skully is completely void of showing any source of emotion, and for so long I’ve known I wanted to be trained in the way he trained me. Taught how to weaponize my emotions by showing none. Humans hate that. People hate when they want to get under your skin but know that they can’t.