Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
The place appealed to both locals and tourists alike, the club exuding a sexy, posh vibe.
Trent Lawson owned a killer club in Redemption Hills, and he had helped Kane set it up. Kane had been happy to take his advice of bringing in rotating bands of different genres, and the roster never failed to keep the place swarming night after night.
I cut through the left, and people parted as I went, no doubt sensing the energy that crashed from within me. Instinct warning them of the barely hinged violence that skated through my veins.
Five bartenders took up different sections behind the bar, slinging drinks as fast as the orders were tossed out to them.
Mallory caught my eye, this gorgeous chick who’d come to us and had decided to stay. The only one here who knew what these meetings were all about.
She angled her head toward the swinging door that led to the back of the church where the kitchen and offices were located.
I didn’t slow to acknowledge her. I edged right through, boots eating up the floor as I took purposed strides down the long hallway. I passed by the kitchen and the breakroom and a few other offices before I made it to the very back where I pushed through the door to Kane’s office.
Inside, the light was muted, the floors the same rustic wood as the rest of the building, furniture to match.
My crew was already there.
Theo stood leaning back on the edge of Kane’s massive wooden desk, his arms crossed over his chest, and Kane was behind it, rocking in the executive chair.
Otto was pacing, roughing an anxious hand through the long pieces of his hair.
Cash loitered in the corner to my right, mostly out of sight, though I could feel the severity radiating from his being.
Stepping forward, I locked the door behind me, and upon my entering, Kane stood and moved to the wall of bookshelves on my right. He shifted a couple old books aside so he could get to the keypad he’d installed and tapped in the code that made the latch give.
Then he pulled open the section of bookcase that hid the passageway.
Kane ducked through it first, and all of us moved, following him down the narrow, cramped stairwell to the basement below. Cash was at the tail, and he closed the bookcase behind us. It was musty down there as the space had assuredly been used for storage back in the day, the floors nothing but raw concrete and the walls rough, exposed brick.
A big, round table sat in the middle of the room, and five chairs surrounded it.
We each took our spots, our hands stretched out in the middle of the table with the matching, swirling crosses marked on our flesh.
And I called to order the meeting of Sovereign Sanctum.
TWENTY-THREE
RIVER
SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD
“You sure you want to do this?” Theo asked it, and Otto roughed an agitated hand down his face. Kane and Cash were leaned back against the wall of the abandoned building that they called home. River’d been with his crew since the day he’d met Theo outside the store when he’d made his first theft.
There’d been a fuckton of them since.
But this was the first true crime he was going to commit.
“Yeah. Don’t want to involve any of you, though. Just need you to keep an eye on Raven when I go.”
Raven was technically supposed to be living with their grandmother. He’d taken her there a couple days after they’d run away, thinking it’d be the best situation for her since he couldn’t imagine a nine-year-old girl growing up on the streets. Sure one day they’d get caught and she’d be sent back to her parents. Their grandmother had promised she was going to call CPS and get Raven permanently placed with her.
Only their grandmother had called their mother instead, and her father had come for a visit.
A month ago, Raven had taken five city buses across town to find him. He’d never forget her standing in the doorway to that abandoned building, tears on her face.
She’d begged River to never make her go back.
He’d sworn he wouldn’t.
Theo shook his head. “Nah, man, if you’re going to do this, I’m going to have your back about it. Raven’s our family, too.”
It’s what they’d become.
Family.
And now it was going to be written in blood.
The lights from the SUV parked down the street flashed once.
A sign.
A go.
He moved, a wraith who crept through the darkness under the cover of night. Crouching low to keep himself concealed as he hustled across the manicured yard. His back pressed against the exterior wall of the brick house to make sure it was clear. Quick as he accessed the door where the lock had already been cracked so it’d look like it was an actual break-in.