Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
And I didn’t let go.
I squeezed as his nails raked at my arms. As he gurgled and fought. As he tried to toss me off.
“This is for every kid you ever got addicted,” I growled at his ear. “For every person you’ve ever hurt. For Amelia. But most of all, for Dakota and Kayden, so they never have to spend one second of their lives worried about you.”
The fingers clawing at my arms began to fail, and his arms dropped to his sides.
I held fast until the blood ceased to beat in his body.
One second later, the door burst open, and Ezra came through with his gun drawn, followed by three DEA agents.
I let the fucker go.
He flopped face-first onto the ground.
I went to go for Kayden and Dakota, but Ezra put his hand out, stopping me. “Don’t move, Ryder. Stay right there.”
I gulped, helpless to do anything as Ezra and the agents cleared the room before a group of paramedics descended.
A minute later the agent I’d met with after I’d contacted Ezra appeared in the doorway. “Come with me.”
FORTY-EIGHT
RYDER
How many hours I’d spent in the office the size of a tissue box, I didn’t know. The only thing I knew was I’d itched, continually scrubbing my palms over my face and yanking at my hair as they asked me the same fucking questions over and over again.
My story needed to be straight.
I thought the only question worthy of being answered right then was the one I kept asking. “Are they okay? Someone tell me if they’re fucking okay.”
I didn’t care if they charged me.
If they put me behind bars for the rest of my life.
If the deal I’d struck was a trap they’d set.
The only thing that mattered was if Dakota and Kayden were okay.
Except it wasn’t a trap.
I was free.
I wasn’t in danger.
Anyone who knew me in Dare’s ring was dead. His close circle of men slain during the shootout.
The raid currently happening at the safehouse would be attributed to the two-year-long investigation that had been conducted by the DEA. They’d finally gathered enough evidence that they’d made their move, even though I had been the one to provide that last bit of evidence they had been lacking.
My name would never be mentioned. I had to believe Ezra had a whole lot to do with that.
But the only thing that mattered was Dakota and Kayden, so even though they’d instructed I go home and lay low, I was walking through the sliding double doors that led into the emergency room in Poplar.
It was the same hospital where Amelia had been taken, and I could still feel the hopelessness and despair I’d felt that day. Ghosts that hung from the walls.
I went straight to the reception desk, her name haggard when it slipped from my tongue. “Dakota Cooper?”
The man behind the counter looked up. Surprise covered his expression. No question, I looked like I could use some medical attention myself.
But I couldn’t feel anything except for the desperate need to ensure they were fine.
To go to them.
To see them safe and whole.
He finally turned away and tapped into his computer.
“I need your ID so I can make you a visitor badge.”
I fumbled to get out my license, trying to breathe as I waited for him to fill out the information. He passed me a sticker. “Put that on your shirt. It’s room E-16.”
“Thank you.”
He buzzed me through the double doors that led into an open room. A nurses’ station was in the middle, and there were a bunch of curtained off areas on each side.
A hall branched off at the back, and a sign indicated rooms E-11 – E-20.
I hurried that way, turning the corner and hitting the hall that had private rooms with sliding doors. I increased my pace when I saw Cody, Kayla, and Dakota’s mom loitering outside a door halfway down.
“Are they okay?” It heaved out of me when I got close enough.
At the sound of my voice, Cody whirled around just as I was making it to them.
And I shouldn’t have been surprised when he threw a fist and clocked me in the jaw. I didn’t deflect it or fight back because I knew I deserved it.
Kayla yelped and Dakota’s mother gasped. “Oh my God, Cody.”
Cody ignored them both when he took me by the shirt and yanked me toward him, spitting in my face, “You don’t get to ask if they’re okay, Ryder. Not when they are in this mess because of you. Because of what you’ve done. You think I don’t know you’ve been touching her? Feeding her those lies you love to tell? I warned you to stay away from her. I told you. You think you’re good enough for my sister? I think tonight has proven to us all that you’re nothing but trash. You’re supposed to be my best-fucking-friend. And you did this? I can’t fucking believe you. After you promised to stay away from her. Get the fuck out of here.”