Total pages in book: 170
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Shock and fear both race through me.
When we’re all inside the room, Jase pulls the bag off. Nate’s gagged, his face red, and his eyes wide with fear. His lip is cut and his cheek bruised. My breath catches and I can barely stand up straight.
Jase removes the gag and Nate’s head lulls. He’s barely holding on to consciousness.
“Get anything from him?”
“He admitted he was working with a cop. He made a deal.”
“I was,” Nate exhales breathlessly.
“He was covering his ass.”
“According to his bank account he was covering more than just his ass,” Daniel speaks up from the corner of the room. I didn’t even see him there. He stalks forward, wearing all black, just like Jase.
My stomach turns. Cold races up and down my arms. The memory of what he did is as clear and vivid as if it had happened five minutes ago. The way he killed…
“Scarlet,” I whisper.
“Scarlet was working for the other side, Braelynn,” Carter says. “But she was also working with Nate, wasn’t she?”
“Wasn’t she?” he repeats.
Nate’s breathing is hard and fast, and he works his jaw like it’s painful from the way they gagged him. “She’s a liar,” he says, his tone urgent. “Whatever she told you isn’t true.”
My heart races as his bloodshot eyes meet mine.
Is he calling me a liar? Betrayal and fear creep into my mind with racing questions. I didn’t lie about anything. I don’t know anything about any of this. My throat tightens and I can’t speak.
Carter brushes by my side and goes to pace around Nate. There’s so much raw fear in the room that I can taste it in the air. Anger, too. The brothers are furious, and they’re scary when they’re furious.
“It didn’t come from Braelynn,” Carter tells Nate. He and Jase are both circling Nate now, and Nate’s eyes follow them with wide-eyed terror. “She had no idea until just a moment ago.”
Jase pulls out a leather sleeve. I can see the handles of three different knives poking out from the top. My mouth goes dry, and my heartbeat is painful now. I don’t think it’s supposed to beat this fast under any circumstance.
“Don’t,” says Nate. “Don’t do this to me.”
Jase stares at him, cold and blank, then comes over to me. “You have choices.”
“No.” I shake my head, maybe a little harder than I needed to. “I don’t…I don’t want to do that.” I involuntarily take a step back.
I don’t want to torture a person. I know that Nate’s not good. I know he did this to us. But I don’t want that memory in Declan’s mind, and I don’t want it in mine, either.
Declan takes my hand in his. In his other, he offers me a gun. The metal is cold and heavy in my palm. “Take this my sweet girl,” he whispers at my neck.
My heart races and I’m all too aware that they’re all watching me, even though I can’t move my gaze from the death stare Nate has locked onto me.
I want to shake my head and deny that, too, but instead, I take it.
My body is heavy as he raises my arm for me, helping me to hold the weapon.
“You can make the decision,” Declan says, softly. This is the same way he tells me that he loves me. He reassures me all the while Nate shakes his head, cursing, and telling them they’re making a mistake.
“It wasn’t me,” Nate insists. He wriggles in the ropes like there’s any hope of getting free. There’s not. They tied him too tight. “You’ve got the wrong guy.”
“We don’t,” Jase says, his tone flat.
“No, we fucking don’t,” Carter agrees. “We know it was you. We have plenty of proof. You knew there would be consequences if we found out.”
“You can end this,” Declan tells me, his front to my back. His heart beats steadily and his voice is so calm. “This is the man who set you up,” he tells me as I stare at Nate, remembering how he stood there when they lowered me into the tub.
“He knew you had nothing to do with it. He fucking knew,” Declan tells me and the anger in his words tightens his tone. My eyes prick with tears as the memories come back to me, one at a time, each of them playing out.
It’s wrong to kill, but it’s not so black and white, is it? Not in this world, not with what’s happened.
There are shades of gray in everything.
“It wasn’t me,” Nate says, a little louder.
Jase moves around him again and holds up the case full of knives. “You sure you don’t want to get his confession?”
“No,” Declan says behind me and I feel like I’m hovering outside my body. “He’ll lie his way into hell. There’s no point.”
Declan moves around behind me, his strong hands sliding over my arms until his hands cover mine. Both of us raise the gun together, but it’s mostly me. He lets me be the one to carry more of the weight. He’s just supporting me.