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 don’t trust you,” I cry out, throwing my hands out. “God dammit, I don’t even know if I trust myself right now. Everything is a mess, and I’m terrified. I’m terrified of what’s about to happen in our worlds, and the fact that I can do nothing to control it. Alarick has known all along that you’re not dead, and he has lied to me about it.”
“He has done what I’ve asked. He has protected that club. That’s his job and you can’t make him feel any less for it.”
“I’m his partner,” I whisper. “If he can’t trust me, then who can he trust?”
“Briella, think this through. Think about everythin’ that’ll go wrong if you call him out on this. I need you to do this for me, to keep this quiet. If there is anythin’ in the world you can do right now, do that.”
I exhale, because I’m not going to risk getting my sister who I’ve never met back, even if it means I have to walk around pretending I don’t know.
“Your secret is safe with me. But I have to know everything there is to know about Dax. Where is he located? I know you know, and I want to know where that is. I want to help Alarick so he’s able to get closer, quicker.”
“He’s at a large reserve outside of town, about an hour. It’s not easy to find, it’s private land and it’s heavily secured. You can’t just go galivanting onto it. That man will see you coming, and he’ll have you restrained before you can even think about getting in.”
That man doesn’t know me, then. Does he?
“We’ve got a girl, set her up to go in and work from the inside. She’s unknown to Dax, and he doesn’t know she’s working with us. It’s our only chance of getting inside.”
King looks to me. “That’s fuckin’ dangerous. If he finds out, that girl will die a fuckin’ painful and agonizing death. Is that somethin’ you can all live with?”
“No,” I whisper. “But it isn’t my call, King. It’s Alarick’s.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
“I hope he knows what he’s doin’, but I don’t think he’s goin’ to fully grasp it until he sees the real monster he’s dealin’ with. When he does, he’s goin’ to wish this would all fuckin’ go away.”
“It’s too late for that now.”
“Yeah, it is.”
We have to move forward now.
Even if we don’t want to.
Even if we’re scared.
We simply have no other choice.
“CAN I TRUST YOU, KAREN?” I say, glancing around the café.
Cohen and Kendric are sitting a few tables down, having some lunch, and they’re deep in conversation so they’re not listening to us. I begged Alarick to let me come and see Karen for lunch, and he agreed, but only with Cohen and Kendric coming with me. I wasn’t going to complain, I needed someone to talk to more than anything and I would take whatever terms came with that.
“Of course, is everything okay?”
I exhale and glance at the guys again. Then I tell her part of the truth, not all of it, just part of it. “I found out I have a sister.”
“What?” she gasps quietly.
“I can’t say where I found it out, but it turns out that’s what my mother was doing with Dax and that’s what she was looking for when she died. Then Magnolia died looking for information about Mom. I don’t know if she found out too, but the fact is there is a girl out there, sold somewhere in this world, and she is my very own blood.”
“Oh my god, that’s ... I don’t know what to say about that. Have you told Alarick?”
“No, nobody knows except me and you for now. He’s got enough to worry about, and I can’t risk anything happening to him if he gets distracted. But now more than ever, we need to bring Dax down. He has the information, the key. He knows where my sister is, and he’s the only person who does.”
“I’m so sorry, honey. Like you haven’t been dealt enough blows, now this.”
“It means I have family out there somewhere. I need to find her.”
Karen nods. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
“I have to follow Alarick’s lead, which I’m okay with, but knowing he’s out there, hurting women ... it just kills me. I found out he lives in a reserve about an hour out of town, have you ever heard of anything out there?”
Karen ponders this for a moment, and then says, “Now you mention it, yes. Years ago I went to a party out there with Magnolia and some of her friends. I didn’t know at the time she could have been looking into things, I just thought we were going for some fun. It was a huge party, in this massive house with all this land. I don’t remember anything weird about that place, but it was about an hour out.”