Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69327 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69327 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Tony, Simi, and Hades had taken their husbands’ names.
Honestly, it was good to have forgotten that part of my life. Even better, it was nice that we no longer had the stigma of that name hanging over the circus, either.
Because let’s be honest, after everything had gone down with my deceased father and the rest of the circus workers who thought they’d never be caught after hurting and targeting children, the media had a hay day. They threw the Singh name into the mud and trampled on it.
As it should be, of course.
It’d also put a sort of hiatus on our circus opening as well.
We wanted to give the world time to realize who we were now, and that meant we let everything play out in the court where it came to my mother and the other ex-employees of Singh Circus.
It also helped that we’d been the ones to turn those workers in. To bring light to what had happened, and not just go sweeping it under the rug like it hadn’t happened.
“Fuckin’ fuck,” Zip said as she paused. “How badly do you think you might need this wheelchair?”
“Um,” I hesitated. “It’s kind of hard to find one that allows you to lie completely flat.”
In fact, it’d taken well over a week to get the one I had, and that had been with Winston pulling every favor he could to make it happen.
Who knew they were so freakin’ rare?
“Fuck,” Zip said as she continued climbing down the stairs. “I’m not working out for a week after this.”
Doubtful.
Out of us all, Zip was the most consistent one.
She couldn’t make it two days in a row without feeling bad.
Another fall out from our father telling us we were worthless if we didn’t fit his standards.
“Fireman, anyone here?”
Zip called out from above us, then said, “Thank fuckin’ God. I feel like my arms are about to fall off.”
“At least you could carry it part of the way!” I called out.
“Fuckin’ awesome,” Zip grumbled.
“Hello,” a man in full bunker gear said. “Need assistance?”
“I got this,” Nash mumbled. “But we have a woman a few floors up carrying the wheelchair that’s required. She needs help.”
The man split off from us and I heard Zip exclaim in excitement.
Nash kept descending the stairs.
It was on level eleven that my hunk of burning love made his appearance.
He came up the stairs like an avenging angel.
The moment he saw me, he reached for me.
“But your leg!” I cried out.
“The leg is fuckin’ fine,” he grumbled as he carried me bridal style. “Thanks, Nash.”
“Welcome,” Nash said as he all but disappeared down the stairs.
“Did you make a deal with him that he wasn’t allowed to leave us behind or something until you got here?” I asked.
“Nash is a professional martial artist who can protect y’all.” He shrugged. “I trusted you with him.”
I hooked my arms around Win’s shoulders and said, “My hero.”
He winked at me. Then kept carrying me right out of the building and to the other side of the street where the ten residents of this building waited.
All of them friends and family.
Though, Nash was nowhere to be seen.
“So what the hell happened?” Zip asked no one in particular.
It was Keene who answered with, “The maid left an iron on that short circuited. It caught fire in the wall. Fire’s out, but there was a lot of smoke damage.”
“Bummer,” I said. “The poor building owner is going to freak.”
The man holding me up snorted. “I’m not going to freak.”
“You better not fire her.” I poked him in the chest. “Why are you so sweaty?”
The firefighter finally showed up with my chair, and my angry hero put me down in it before saying, “I came from the safe house.”
The safe house that was still housing my mother and Dario.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked.
“I didn’t do anything to your mother,” he said.
But he had done something to Dario.
“Why not?” I asked.
I had no love lost for my mother.
She got what she deserved.
“Because, despite your anger at her, she’s still your mother,” he said. “I turned her over to a buddy who works for the FBI. She’ll be facing a court of law here after a while.”
I sighed. “Inconvenient.”
He tapped my nose. “Inconvenient, but effective. She won’t have it easy. Women prisoners take it no less hard than men prisoners when presented as beings who think nothing of harming children.”
“Yo, bro,” Katrin, who also lived in our building, said. “This is gonna sound stupid and all, but can I borrow twenty dollars? There’s a hot dog vendor over there, and I’m starving.”
“Oh!” I cried out, waving my hand. “Bring me one, too!”
“Convenient that you left your purse,” Winston drawled as he pulled out a hundred. “Bring us all one.”
She came back with fifteen hot dogs.
I was rather impressed with how she’d balanced them all.