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)
Pushing up from the bench, I made my way down the aisle. When I hit the doors, I turned as he said, “You’re the only one I can trust to get this done.” I made my way down the hallway, passing the stairs that led up to the rooms. Taking the stairs two at a time, I passed all of the damaged photographs of the old nurses and doctors. It’s not until I was back in my room, that I fell onto the bed, staring up at the white padded walls.
I pulled open my bedside drawer, grabbing the photo that I hadn’t looked at much since Skully gave it to me when I was eight years old. A man and woman stood side-by-side. He wore a dark suit with a gray tie and had a cigar in his mouth. She had long black hair that was pulled up on the top of her head and a cigarette in her mouth. She stood partially in front of him, a possessive hand in front of him. I gathered it was my parents, even though Skully didn’t tell me anything else. I wondered what happened to them. Why they put me here. Why would any parent dump their child at an abandoned psych ward and just leave? I hated them.
Scrunching up the photo, I tossed it back into the drawer and fell down onto my bed. There was a knock on the door, and I yelled to come in. It was most likely Poppy. She couldn’t sleep usually and needed to sleep with me. Her parents dumped her here a year after I was. She didn’t know anything about her parents. No one here did.
I opened my door and paused when I saw Henry standing on the other side. Henry and I weren’t friends, yet somehow he always managed to be the person delivering news to me. “Nine-oh-two.” I banged my head back on the door and watched as he moved back through the corridor. Henry was older than the rest of us, but he reminded me of a teacher’s pet. Always so fucking eager to do anything for Skully. But then… so was I.
I reached behind the door and grabbed my machete, flipping my hoodie over my head. After closing my door, I made my way down, counting the numbers on each door in passing. Eighty-seven… I let the sharp tip of the machete scratch the walls as I walked down, counting the numbers beneath my breath.
902.
Shoving open the door, I saw the body tucked beneath the blankets, chest rising and falling. Perfect. I didn’t have to look at this one. Stepping in, I directed the tip of my knife above the shoulder and cut the vein that pulsed on the side of the neck. Blood flowed out of the incision neatly, and I tilted my head. Henry spilled in behind me, yanking the blanket off and looking down at the blood-soaked body.
It was a girl. Young. I didn’t like doing the girls. I didn’t like doing any of them, but mostly the girls.
Henry fell onto the bed, his head bowed. When her head fell to the side, I saw it was Delany, Henry’s sister.
“I didn’t—” I say.
Henry shook his head, clenching his jaw. “Just leave.” Neither of us knew who was in what room. Skully rotated them every two nights and it was always a case of Russian roulette.
“Fuck.” I slid down the wall, drawing my legs up to my chest. This was going to give Henry even more of a reason to fucking hate me.
I’m not like other girls. I’ve never thought much about my wedding day. It would happen because I am Papa’s only child and he most definitely would shove me down the aisle to marry whatever gives the Cosa Nostra power.
In this case, it is an alliance with our enemy, because whether Papa likes to admit it or not, the peace between our two families means more than the way it looks to our joined enemies.
“Hey, baby!” Betty enters behind me, putting Wolf to the floor as he runs his little feet across the room and jumps up on my lap.
“You look pretty, Mama!” His little hand rests on the side of my face, and I search his eyes, circling his cheek with my thumb.
“Thank you, baby boy.” My eyes flick up to Betty, who is standing there with raised brows. “Oh, don’t look at me like that.”
“Well, look!” She raises her hands in the air. “I’m just saying, I’m against this. What happened after Wicked swooped in and did Prince Charming with you?”
I shake my head, rocking back and forward on the rocking chair, my mind lost on the lace dress pooling around my thighs. “Nothing. He refuses to let me into whatever he is keeping from me.”