Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
No. I don’t believe that last part. But the rest of it, I no longer know.
So, when the officer clears his throat, I turn and walk out the door without saying goodbye to my father. Without giving him any reassurances because they would be false if I did.
12
OPHELIA
Itry to ignore the officer riding in the elevator with me. I guess he’s stationed there until they get my dad back to prison. Mr. Higgins stayed upstairs, and I’m glad for that.
It’s true. What Ethan and Sly told me about my grandfather and uncle, it’s all true. How has Dad kept all this from me for so long?
It explains some things, though. Or at least forces me to see them from a different perspective. How protective he’s always been of me. Why I was never allowed to get even a summer job once I was old enough, never allowed to have friends over and going to friends’ houses was such a rare treat. With Mom being gone, I thought he was just afraid to lose me, too.
The elevator doors slide open in the lobby, which is busy with activity. Hamish pushes off the wall he’s leaning against. His jaw is set tight, his narrowed eyes boring into me. Without a word, he lets me know he’s pissed but honestly, I don’t care.
I walk past him and toward the exit doors. He follows close behind. An ambulance pulls up to the curb, lights flashing, sirens blaring. Staff runs toward the entrance, and we get out of the way as they unload a gurney from the back of the ambulance and wheel the patient away.
Something drops off the gurney and I’m surprised to see Hamish hurry to pick it up and rush after them. It’s a kind gesture and I watch him catch up with a nurse just before they disappear through the doors to emergency. He hands off the item and turns back to the lobby, searching for me. I raise a hand to let him know where I am when I feel a presence at my back. I don’t know if it’s a familiar scent or something else, but a shiver runs through me, and I turn to find Ethan standing just inches away watching me.
“Phee,” he says, and when he takes a step toward me, I take one back, wondering how he knew I was here.
He puts his hands up as if he’s harmless. He’s not.
“Are you following me?” I ask him.
“Just here to have some stitches taken out, compliments of your boy Silas. But I will admit, this is lucky. You okay? Saw you hit your head pretty hard when Silas rammed his SUV into us. I swear he was trying to kill us all.”
He closes the space between us as Hamish comes up beside me. “Let’s go,” Hamish says, looking at Ethan.
Ethan barely spares him a glance because his gaze has landed on my ring finger. “What the fuck is this piece of shit? Where is the ring I gave you?” he demands, taking my hand roughly.
“Hey!” Hamish is on him before I can pull my hand away. I open my mouth to tell him Ethan isn’t worth it, but before I can, someone behind us shouts. I turn just in time to see Silas knock a woman’s bag off her shoulder as he rushes to us, his face the expression of fury. Nigella enters through the glass doors a moment later.
“Silas!” I call out as he flies at Ethan, capturing his forearm.
“You don’t touch her. You don’t lay a finger on her!”
He tugs Ethan off and shoves him backward. Someone calls for security. The officers at the elevator are already moving toward us. Hamish blocks the officers’ path while I rush toward Silas.
“Silas, don’t!”
Déjà vu. I remember when Silas tore Ethan off me that time in Ethan’s bedroom when I was sixteen, how he threw him against the wall so hard Ethan’s head left a dent. I remember what Sly told me he’d done to Silas after that, the consequences Silas bore. As the police push past Hamish, I have a feeling those consequences will be far worse now.
“Silas, stop!” I capture his arm, but it’s like he doesn’t even see me. He’s got Ethan pressed up against the wall and he’s fuming. All the while, Ethan is grinning because he sees the police approach. He knows how this will go.
“Every lash you gave her, you will take double. Every bruise, every cut, every fucking scratch you put on her, you will pay for, and when I’m done with you, you pathetic, weak bastard, you won’t walk away just like she couldn’t walk away. Except that you, you will never fucking walk again.”
“Are you threatening me?” Ethan asks loudly. “Did you all hear that?”
“Silas, let him go. Silas. Silas please.”