Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
I’m sobbing now.
So heavily I can’t hear his words anymore.
His big arms go around me, and he pulls me into his arms, hanging onto me so tightly I can’t breathe, but that’s okay, I need it.
God do I need it.
My mother, my beautiful mother, had been searching for a daughter she never knew for so many years. She had been fighting for a life she had brought into this world and wanted to fix. She got killed trying to be the best mother she could. Dax took her from me. He took Magnolia from me. He took Cova from me.
I’m going to make sure he suffers.
I will make sure he never breathes the fresh air of this earth again.
Anger bubbles in my chest—wild fury. Something I can’t even begin to understand.
I want blood.
I want his blood.
“There are a lot of reasons why your momma didn’t tell you and Magnolia about Cova. She didn’t want to risk you in any way, she didn’t want to bring any danger into your world. I hope you understand that everything she did, she did out of the pure love in her heart. Don’t ever be angry at her for what happened. She loved you girls more than life itself.”
“I love her so much,” I say, my voice wavering with pain. “I would never blame her for this.”
“I wish every fuckin’ day that I knew what she was doin’, that I knew she was talkin’ to this monster behind my back. I would have stopped her. I would have fuckin’ done somethin’ to make sure she was safe.”
“I know you would have,” I say softly.
“She’s fuckin’ gone, and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it. Not a fuckin’ thing.”
His voice cracks.
And my heart cracks open.
He loved her; one thing I know for sure, is that King cherished my mother. There is no doubt in my mind of that fact, and I know that he blames himself for not knowing, for not being there and for not stopping what happened that horrible day.
None of us could have saved her. That’s the honest truth.
“This is all so much,” I whisper, shaking my head. “I have a sister. Is she ... still alive?”
“As far as I know, she is, but I can’t be certain of that. Been tryin’ to track her down for a long fuckin’ time now but haven’t had much luck. I’ve got a few leads, and I’m lookin’ into them, but the only way I can do that is for Dax not to know I’m alive. But, things are changin’ now, Alarick is goin’ in and you’re all involved.”
“Does that mean you’re coming out and letting them all know you’re alive?”
King shakes his head. “No, I’m better off bein’ a hidden part of this still. One advantage we all have is that Dax doesn’t know I’m alive. I can be lookin’ into this on the downlow, and right now, we all need this. Alarick isn’t goin’ to stop now, I know that, and no matter how much I might want him to, he’s in it for the long haul so I gotta make sure he comes out of it alive.”
“You’re right, he’s not going to stop,” I say softly. “Neither am I, especially now I have even more reason to want that piece of crap out of the picture.”
“I know you do, but you gotta promise me you’ll follow Alarick’s instructions. No matter how you feel. He knows what he’s doin’, he took over that club knowing what he’s doin’. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have even been able to ...”
He trails off, and I narrow my eyes.
“You wouldn’t have even been able to what?”
“It’s nothing, wrong sentence,” King murmurs.
Wait a second.
Wait a damned second.
“Alarick knows you’re alive,” I say, my voice shocked.
“Briella ...”
“All this time, he’s known you’re alive?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Oh, my god,” I say, standing. “You have made me keep this a secret from him, when all along he knows you’re not dead anyway. Not to mention he’s lied to me all of these years ...”
“I didn’t want you to tell him because he don’t know I’m here, he thinks I’m still overseas. If he knows I’m here, it’ll throw him off. I don’t want him worryin’ about what I’m doin’. I want to watch without anyone knowin’ about it, and I need you to promise me you’re goin’ to make sure that happens.”
“You’re asking me to go back there, keep pretending that I don’t know, he knows, and forget that everyone around me is a god damned liar.”
“Briella ...”
“I’ve lost everything, King. Everything. Now I find out I’ve got a sister out there, maybe alive, maybe dead, and you want me to just sit back and pretend I know nothing.”
“Briella,” King orders. “I’m askin’ you to trust me.”