Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 838(@200wpm)___ 671(@250wpm)___ 559(@300wpm)
Cora huddles closer to hug both Bagel and me, squishing us both, and I pat her back to make her feel better. I know she’s scared. She doesn’t deserve any of this fear, but how do I take it away?
I can feel Bagel purring against my belly, but all I can think of is how many people have had to die for us to be safe. How many people got shot and wounded because of me?
Max.
My heart aches at the thought of him lying there in a pool of his own blood.
God, Max … please, let Max be okay.
Heath
Minutes ago
When I finally make my way through the smoke in the hallways while carrying Silas, I find Max lying on the floor, blood staining his shirt.
“Max!” I scream, and I put Silas down so I can run to him.
I get on my knees and pick him up. “Max, please, stay with me!”
He groans. “Ugh, my shoulder hurts.”
Tears stain my eyes. “You’re alive.”
“Pffft, you think I’d die after only kissing you twice?” he jokes.
“Fuck, c’mere, you little twink.” I grab his face and smash my lips onto his. “Don’t you go dying on me now.”
“I won’t, promise,” he groans. “It’s just a gunshot wound to the shoulder blade. No big deal.”
He’s joking now, but I know he’s just hiding the pain from me.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Stefano shot me after I pulled the bomb off Ivy’s chest,” Max says.
“Where the fuck is she?” Silas growls. “I can’t find her, and I can’t see shit.”
“I told her to run,” Max says. “Cora is with her.”
“Fuck,” Silas grits, getting up. “We gotta go after her.”
“Stefano’s gone too,” Max says. “He ran after her. I saw it.”
“Okay, time to go.” I grab Max by the waist and throw him over my shoulder.
“Wait!” Max yelps, pointing at something on the floor near the kitchen door. “Her hearing aids.”
I bend over to grab them and shove them into his pockets.
“Jesus Christ, everything hurts.”
“Stop bitching, we gotta go save Ivy and Cora, remember?” I tell him as I help Silas out the door too.
I’m the only one left standing, and I’m not about to let my best friend and lover die on me.
But the moment I step outside and gaze across the yard, my car is nowhere to be found.
“Where the fuck is my car?” I yell.
“Shit, Ivy must’ve taken it,” Silas responds.
“There!” Max points at one of the expensive cars in the garage next to the mansion. “We can take that one.”
“Fine. He stole our girl, so we’ll steal his car,” Silas says, hobbling over to the garage.
Stefano’s personal driver lies on the asphalt, dead as can be, and Silas fishes the key from his pocket. “I’ll take that.”
Skid marks are all over the grass leading to the garage. Someone hastily drove a car away from here.
“Shit, Stefano must’ve taken the other car that was here,” I say as I set Max down in the back seat. “We gotta hurry.”
“I’m coming!” Silas snaps, jumping into the passenger’s seat while I get behind the wheel and put it in reverse.
“Let’s go get our girls.”
Ivy
Sweat drops roll down my back as I keep Cora and Bagel close to me, praying he won’t find us. The door slams shut, and I know it’s too late.
He’s here.
I grab Cora’s face and make her look at me so she understands what I say. “Stay.”
She nods, and I swiftly exit the closet so I can grab a knife from the kitchen before he finds us. It won’t do much against a gun, but I’m not gonna sit around in there and wait until he finds us and drags us all the way back to that hellhole.
Fuck no.
I won’t go down without a fight.
If he wants to take her, he’ll have to go through me.
I take the biggest knife I can find and hold it out in front of me as I step out into the living room. He’s got Mrs. Schwartz in a chokehold, and the frying pan she was using to cook her bacon in drops to the floor.
I clear my throat and try to form the words as best I can despite not knowing how they sound. “Let. Her. Go.”
A wicked smile forms on his face, and he shoves her toward the couch, where she hits her head on the table. She’s passed out and bleeding from the head.
Fuck.
Sweat drops roll down my back as he steps closer and closer, taunting me, trying to get me to flee. But I am done running from this monster.
Clutching the knife tightly, I jump at him, cutting into him with everything I have. I manage to hit him in the arms before he grabs my wrist and locks it behind my back, knocking it out of my hand. I fight against his grip and kick him in the balls, and he briefly buckles, allowing me to break free.