Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
I don’t want to let her go, but I know that’s not an option. She doesn’t belong in my world. She is too good for it. I’m already playing with fire.
I am, after all, the one who killed her father.
Chapter Two
WILLA
The buzz in the crowd fills the air as they chant my brother's name. I’ve been on to him for a few weeks now. If he thinks I hadn’t seen the marks on his face or the bruises on his side, he is sadly mistaken, but that is Rich. My twin always tries to protect me, and with that comes secrets. It is starting to feel like everyone in my life is keeping secrets from me. It is their way of trying to protect me.
All it does is isolate me. It makes me feel alone and even broken. That I am not strong enough to face reality. That I should be kept in a box. They all think the same of me, that I’m Willa, the bookworm who spends far too much time in her head. Except keeping me in that box only makes that so much more true. Now I know I have to get myself out of it. I have to stop letting people put me where they think I belong.
I decided recently that I no longer want to be who people assume I am. That I am going to do and say whatever the heck I want for once in my life. Rebel a little even.
But now that I’m pressing into Vasily King’s side, I’m wondering if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I only came here in hopes of getting a peek. I have now landed myself in the deep end only knowing how to doggy paddle.
It doesn’t go unnoticed how people hurriedly get out of Vasily's way. He doesn’t have to say he’s the one in charge. Everyone else's actions around him show that. They all give me curious expressions as we pass by. I can tell they’re wondering who I am.
What's strange to me is that, despite having grown up on this island, I don't recognize many people. When we get to the front, I see my brother stepping into the ring. He shifts his gaze from Vasily to me. I don’t miss the way he clenches his fists.
He mouths the word fuck, but the crowd is too loud to hear it. His eyes dart around me, and I know he's likely wondering where Teddy is. I try to turn to find her myself, but I can't with Vasily having me tucked so tight into his side.
"Hey." I push on his chest. "My friend." I push harder, and he turns his head back toward the crowd. I'm sure he can see over everyone. He tenses, and I try to follow his line of sight, but it's useless.
"Teddy!" I hear my brother roar over the crowd.
"Move!" Vasily barks, his hand wrapping around my wrist before he's moving back through the crowd again.
"What's happening?" I shout to Vasily, but he keeps moving, his hold on me unbreakable but somehow gentle too. My heart is beating a mile a minute.
When we break through the crowd, I see my uncle West. Where the hell did he come from? He lifts his leg, kicking in a door. It explodes inward. There is only one reason he'd be here. Teddy. He has an obsession with her.
The two of them have been sneaking around in secret since he came to the island shortly after my father died. I knew about them. Teddy and I don't keep much from each other. I didn't even know I had an uncle before he arrived, but it wasn't shocking. I am always left in the dark.
I have to run to keep up with Vasily as he begins to move closer to the room my uncle entered. I gasp when we get inside and I see West hitting someone. He doesn’t even stop when the person falls to the floor.
He’s on top of him, throwing blow after blow. My brother rushes into the room, and he and Vasily both have to pull him off. They pin him to the wall, but West still fights them to get back to the person on the ground.
I look down at them and realize that it is Derrick. I gasp, putting my hand over my mouth. He goes to school with us. Teddy appears to be in shock. It’s the first time I’ve seen her look afraid.
I want to go to her, but Vasily pins me with a stare that lets me know to keep my butt in place until they get the situation under control. Well, get my uncle under control, that is.
It doesn’t go unnoticed by me how my body reacts to his glare either. For someone who has been going on about rebelling, I’m finding that I like when Vasily tells me what to do.