Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Just like I predicted, my dreams are anything but sweet. Instead, I’m a little girl again with my dad. He stands over me, yelling and demanding answers for my mistake. I’m frozen, my muscles locked. I want to run away. I want to hide under the bed. But I’m trapped.
When I wake up, my sweat has soaked through the sheets. The house is silent and dark as I roam from room to room. I’m looking for one that’s big enough for me and all of the demons that haunt me.
What I find is Ryker on the couch. He’s staring out of the big windows of his home. Luna is asleep with her head on his thigh and a gun is on the coffee table. He’s standing guard.
All of those years being surrounded by my father’s armed men and I’ve never felt as safe as I do here, knowing that Ryker is watching over me through the night.
“You can come in,” he says in the darkness.
I don’t know how he realized I was here. The rain is still buffeting the windows and thunder continues to roll. The sounds should have masked my approach. But I guess you don’t become a bad ass Army Ranger without developing situational awareness.
I join him on the couch, accidentally bumping Luna. She opens sleepy eyes and scoots over as if she’s welcoming me aboard.
He waits until I’m settled to say, “Agent Swanson’s family is safe tonight. Thanks to you, they uncovered the plot against them.”
Chalk up a rare victory for the good guys. The knowledge makes me feel warm, and I realize how rarely I get to see happy endings in my father’s world. Most of them are violent, the type of things you wish you could unsee and unknow.
Lightning flashes outside, sending a shiver down my spine. It was storming the night my mom died too.
Ryker misunderstands my shiver and passes me a blanket. My fingers brush his calloused ones as I accept it. He’s so different than the men in my world. He doesn’t issue commands from up high, far removed from the bloody consequences of the judgements he’s making. No, Ryker is a soldier through and through. He’s boots on the ground with a spine of steel.
“I figured it out,” he tells me as he passes me a tablet. On the screen is a picture of an island off the coast of South Carolina. The water is a beautiful mix of green and blue, the way only the Atlantic is.
“It’s pretty,” I say, unsure why he’s showing me this.
“It’s uninhabited and owned by me. The only thing on it is a small bungalow. The place is a little piece of paradise that I bought through a shell company, thanks to Brody’s skills. No one could find you here. It’d be the perfect place where you could disappear forever.”
I can practically smell the sea salt and suntan lotion. For a moment I imagine Ryker there with me. I imagine he’s the one rubbing in my suntan lotion with a very thorough application. He’d be shirtless, showing off that big barrel chest and his broad shoulders. Maybe I could even lick my way across his skin as we splash in the ocean.
“You could live alone, have supplies delivered periodically. You’d never have to see another soul again.”
His meaning sinks in. I’d be completely alone. He wouldn’t be coming with me and even if he were, could I do this? Could I spend my days hiding out and hoping that no one from my past ever showed up?
“I don’t want to hide away,” I say softly then realize he might think I’m being ungrateful. “It’s a beautiful place, I’m sure. But it’s not what I want.”
I need to hold onto the hope that one day I might get a normal life. That I’ll be able to live on a little piece of land I own without having to look over my shoulder in fear. If it were as easy as disappearing, I’d have done it already.
“Sometimes what we want and what’s good for us are two different things.” His tone isn’t condescending, but it does ring with conviction. He really believes this is the best solution.
I let his words sink in, giving myself time to think them over. But no matter what he’s saying, it doesn’t feel right to me. “I’ve had to hide away my whole life. I’m done with that. I’m bringing them down, no matter what it takes.”
“Even at the cost of your life?” He spits out the words like they taste bitter. Luna yawns and gets up, leaving us alone on the couch. Distantly, I can hear her lapping from her water bowl in the kitchen.
“What does that matter?” It’s not like there’s anyone that will mourn me. To my father, I’m a business asset to be utilized. To my stepbrothers and Cruella, I’m an obstacle to be overcome. To the government, I’m a witness best kept silent.