Total pages in book: 195
Estimated words: 185573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 928(@200wpm)___ 742(@250wpm)___ 619(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 185573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 928(@200wpm)___ 742(@250wpm)___ 619(@300wpm)
“Don’t you dare touch me—” She tries to shoot around me, but I snag her around the waist, yanking her back. My brain registers that she’s too small. She’s obviously malnourished, but for a split second, I’m doubting what I swore I was certain of, even as I scoop her up and toss her over my shoulder.
She thrusts her knee into my chest, and I heave, but all her efforts of wiggling around and fighting me are only making me harder and more pissed off. If she thinks she can ever screw with me again, she’s dead wrong, and I’m about to show her how much the tables have turned.
Jumping down from the bed of the truck, I haul her inside the clubhouse while she fights me every step of the way. When she screams out for help, my brothers inside just blink at her and then carry on with their drinks and conversation like it never happened. That’s about the moment she falls still, and the reality of her circumstances sinks in.
“Where have you brought me?” she croaks.
I ignore her question and haul her to the meeting room in the back of the building, where Ace and Tank already have Eden hogtied on the floor. She’s throwing the mother of all tantrums, screaming and carrying on as she tries to bust free of her roped cage.
“You motherfuckers are going to pay for this!” she wails.
Bianca cranes her head to look at her friend, and the shocked expression on her face tells me that even she’s never seen such a full-scale meltdown.
“Gag her.” I nod to Tank and toss him a bandanna from my vest.
He gets to work while I thrust Bianca into a chair and pin her with my gaze.
“You even think about moving, and you’ll end up like your friend on the floor. Understand?”
“Screw you.” She jerks her chin, refusing to look at me.
“You wish.” I lean down and grab her face, forcing her gaze back to me. “But I’ll tell you this, Bianca. Not even if you were the last fucking woman on earth.”
Thunder flashes in her eyes, and a storm that’s been brewing for years crackles to life between us. My heart hammers against its cage so hard I’m convinced she can hear it. I hate her for that, and as our history plays through my mind on fast-forward, that animosity for her only grows. I’ve spent years grieving for her. Keeping her memory alive on an unreachable pedestal as I drowned in guilt and self-destructed more times than I can count. And for what? A fucking actress who toyed with me, eviscerated my heart, and left a wake of destruction so deep and wide, there was no chance of recovery.
When I look at her now, all my illusions have been stripped away, and I can see her for the cold-hearted snake she is. Whatever loyalty we had between us is long since buried under the steel cage I erected around myself. Those emotions will never see the light of day again. She’s poisonous, and I won’t forget what she’s done. Not even for a second.
“Five years.” The words leave my lips on a strangled growl. “Did you even think twice about what you left behind?”
She doesn’t answer. She’s staring up at me with a wide-eyed gaze, as far from innocent as a person can be, yet she’s trying to play that card right now.
“Tell me what happened to Adam,” I snarl at her. “Because the only logical fucking conclusion is that it was you. You did it, and you were too much of a coward to own up to it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snaps. “You have me mixed up with someone else. I’m not who you think I am.”
“Enough with the bullshit, Bianca. We’re done playing games. The next time you open your mouth, the only thing I want to hear is the truth. It’s that goddamn simple.”
She leans back with a dazed expression on her face and shakes her head in silence. Her friend on the floor mumbles something through the gag, and when I look at her, I nod to Tank to remove it.
“What did you say?” I bark at Eden.
“She’s telling you the truth. You have her confused with someone else. Now let us go.”
I cock my head to the side, studying her. Something about Eden is familiar, though I can’t place it. When I ask her where I’ve met her before, my own brothers give me a questioning glance, like I’m losing it. One girl they might buy. But two seems farfetched, even to me.
“I’ve never met you,” she hisses.
“What’s your full name?”
“Eden Brooks.” She glares at me and then nods at Bianca. “And her name is Lyric Grace.”
“False.” I narrow my gaze at her.
“It’s not false.” She wiggles against her restraints. “We’ve been on the road together for years. This has obviously just been one big mistake, okay? So if you send us on our way now, we won’t call the cops.”