Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“But during her gloating she never said what they wanted from my father?”
She shook her head.
“Doesn’t make sense,” Jacques said mostly to himself. “They went to extreme measures to punish you for not killing Cairo, and after all that, they back off and leave him to walk around free all this time? Why haven’t they made a move against Cairo, against his father, or against us since?”
“Why did Zoey Mariner get killed when she finally did?” Legend added.
Silence followed his question.
They were both right. Rain— Ivy’s memories coming back hadn’t changed a thing. We were no closer to stopping this threat since before we wound up on that bridge. Steven Ellis wanted to get his filthy hands on Bedlam. We knew that. Someone made the girl we believed was Rainey their personal vendetta. We knew that too. The Men of Honor were back again. That we did not know.
But did it really matter what they called themselves? We’ve been protecting Bedlam from threats since the Men of Honor were founded. These guys were just another in a long line of pricks who found out too much, and tried exploiting our town from the shadows. They could call themselves whatever they wanted. They’d be put down with the rest.
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“What the fuck do you know?”
“Everything I just told you,” she replied. “Scott and Zoey weren’t idiots. They spoke about others, but they never mentioned names or introduced me. They didn’t fully trust me, and when I refused to hurt Cairo and went to the police instead...” Ivy trailed off.
“What about the night they came after you and your sister?” Jacques pushed. “Zoey said she didn’t show up alone.”
“They were like demons,” she breathed. “Appearing out of the shadows from everywhere and nowhere. There was nothing to see but black masks, then I saw nothing at all.”
The three of us shared a look. As irritated as I was, even I knew it didn’t make sense for the Men of Honor to reveal themselves to her. Wanting revenge against someone who murdered your family was a step removed from being willing to kill someone you didn’t know.
They couldn’t trust that Ivy would carry out their plans against me, and then when she said fuck you and tried turning them in, they’d be stupid to show their faces the night they killed her sister and left her alive. If Ivy did prove anything, it was that she’d hunt down anyone who hurt her family. No, the Men of Honor had no incentive at any point to tell Ivy anything real.
So why did they go after her in the first place? Did they want from her what they wanted from nearly every landowner in Bedlam?
How would they get that when there wasn’t a will? another voice asked. When someone dies without a will, their things don’t automatically go to the homicidal accountant.
“This is illogical,” Jacques said, echoing my thoughts. “I can think of no valid explanation for how any of us got here. Why kill Rainey de Souza as punishment for not killing Cairo, and then leave him untouched? Why draw Ivy’s attention all this time later with letters and demands of sacrifice? Why Scott Cavendish’s sudden death wish? Why did Zoey Mariner offer her services to get rid of us, and then who got rid of her? Who else knew we’d be dangling on that bridge?”
“All we’ve done is stand around here asking questions.” I snatched up my jacket. “There’s one man who can give us some answers.”
“Your father.” Ivy shed the blankets. “I’m coming with you.”
“You’re not.”
“I am.” She weaved her fingers through mine. I didn’t mistake it for an intimate gesture. “He’ll open up to me.”
“Why the fuck would he do that?”
She gave me a hard look. “What kind of monster wouldn’t... when he finds out what I lost to protect his son?”
I cracked my jaw to argue with her, and found I couldn’t. Find my father in a sloppy enough drunken mood, he’d bend to Ivy’s pain.
But this was between me and Jack.
“You’re not coming.”
“Why—
“Because Rainey I knew!” I burst out, ripping free. “You, I don’t. Everything out of your mouth has been bullshit from day one. If my father’s involved in this, I’m hearing it from him.”
Ivy didn’t so much as blink at my outburst. It set my teeth further on edge. I didn’t know or understand this hard, blank-faced beauty standing in the space of my pet. Ivy changed more than her name when she deluded herself into believing she was Rainey. She changed her personality too.
The only thing I knew about this stranger was that she was willing to go as far as it takes. That should make her a girl after my own heart. But if there was anyone I trusted least on this planet, it was someone like me.