Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
They were less trusting, though, darting around as he held a box to his chest. “My brother should have come himself rather than to trust two boys who know not what they possess.”
“I am perfectly aware of the importance of this delivery, Antonio,” Jarek shot back. “You act as if he shouldn’t trust me when soon I will be married to Aster. I am every bit as much a part of this family as you.”
Antonio scoffed. “You have a long way to go before you take the seat at the head of this family.”
Bile climbed Logan’s throat. Once Aster’s father and Antonio both passed, Jarek would be next in line.
Darkness swirled behind them as the rain pelted the ground. Dread filled him full. Logan suddenly realized he wasn’t sure if this was a test that could be passed.
Antonio stepped forward into the murky light. He tossed a glare at Jarek as he went to pass the box to him. “Be careful, mutt.”
Jarek’s nostrils flared.
Anxiety raced through Logan’s veins, and he swore he could feel it, the bolt of depravity that struck with a flash of lightning.
A figure emerged from behind, dressed in black and covered in shadow. A mask concealed his face.
Jarek whirled around, and Antonio’s eyes went wide as the man lifted an arm, cocking a gun as he edged forward.
“Give it to me,” the man snarled.
Antonio tightened his hold on the box. “That would be a very unwise mistake on your part.”
“Do you think I give a fuck what you say?”
A shot was fired.
Antonio howled when he was struck in the leg, and he dropped to the ground as the box crashed against the pavement.
The lid busted open, and two necklaces flew out, clattering and rolling across the ground, their giant stones glinting in the bare light.
The man went for them, leaning down to grab one, and Logan took the opportunity to dive onto his back.
He hit him with a thud. They fell to the unforgiving ground, and the attacker scrambled around in the dirty puddle, trying to turn so he could angle his gun.
“Let it go!” Logan shouted as he struggled to pin him, to hold him down. “Jarek, help, get the gun from him!”
Antonio crawled to them, struggling to get the necklace from the man’s hold.
“Jarek!” Logan shouted again.
Another shot rang out.
Logan froze as Antonio slumped to the ground. Blood pooled around him.
Shock pierced through him.
Oh god. No. Oh god.
His heart clanged in his chest as Logan fought for the man’s wrist that wielded the weapon. He finally curled both hands around it, bending his hand back enough that it forced him to drop the gun.
It skidded across the ground.
Logan grunted when an elbow cut him hard in the side.
The blow loosened his hold, but he managed to knee the guy in the ribs, sending him back down.
On his hands and knees, Logan scrambled for the gun that lay three feet away.
The masked man was on his feet by the time Logan got to it. Logan flew around, lying on his back, and he pointed it in the man’s direction.
The man hesitated, his attention whipping between Logan and Jarek before he ran, the single necklace dangling from his hand as he disappeared into the alleyway.
Breaths heaved from Logan’s lungs and the world spun.
Horror had him in a fist.
His eyes met Jarek’s. Jarek who stalled for one second before he darted for the second necklace.
Logan was faster, on his feet and snatching it up before Jarek could get there. In a flash, he had the gun pointed at Jarek. Rain pelted his face, and he tried to blink, to make sense, to process. “Stop, right there.”
Jarek skidded to a stop, hatred on his face. “You did this,” he spat in the direction of Aster’s uncle who lie face down in a puddle, the water that streamed from him blood red.
“You did this. And Aster’s father will know.”
Logan realized he’d taken his attention off Jarek for too long when he turned back and he also had a gun pointed at Logan.
Logan’s hand shook. “That’s not true.”
“It is. You killed him.” Jarek cocked his gun, but it was Logan who pulled the trigger.
It rang out, at one with the crack of lightning that cut through the night.
Clutching his side, Jarek dropped to his knees.
And Logan?
He ran.
Rain soaked his face as Logan panted for a breath where he had his back pressed to a wall of a building at least a mile from where he’d run. He gasped for oxygen, to see, to keep the ground from slipping out from under his feet.
But it spun and spun and the sickness reigned.
He bent over and vomited on the ground. It splashed on the pavement, mixed with the rain, and Logan thought he would faint.
His hand was curled around the necklace, his other around the gun.