Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
"Too fucking easy," Griffin murmurs.
But I knew that before they even spoke.
If you're wanting a warning before someone gets into your house in any situation, the doors and windows are locked. You want a noise to be made to alert you to any form of visitor or foe.
"Stay focused," one of the guys on the ground whispers. "We're definitely walking into a trap."
"Tripwire ten feet in," Hound says.
"On it," comes the response from Jersey, a specialist in all things mechanical and explosive.
In a flash, it's called out that the trip wire has been disabled so the team can move further into the house.
"Too fucking easy," Griffin repeats, making my skin crawl with anticipation.
"Maybe Damien is just stupid," I murmur, already celebrating them pulling my son from that fucking house of horrors.
But now isn't the time to be making plans for the future. I don't even know what Aspen will want when all of this is over. She could consider my job puts her in just as much danger as the organization that Damien controls, leaving her with no other choice but to try and cut me off. I won't listen, of course. There isn't a place on this earth I wouldn't crawl to in order to find my son and be a part of his life.
Her claiming that she would've chosen me all those years ago doesn't mean that she wants me now, and I'd be a fool to try and read between the lines in this moment.
Plus, is there a chance if we kill Damien that she'll want to stay a part of her father's criminal kingdom? She seems to see her father differently from the evidence she's been presented with from Samuel. I think that cuts a little deeper than anything else because she was there when her father ordered me dead. If that isn't proof enough that her father was an evil man, then there would be no convincing her of that fact now.
I watch as the two men sitting near the two tied in the center of the room drop to the floor.
The boy in the chair cries, tears running down his face as sobs rattle his tiny body.
Tears burn the backs of my eyes because that child is not Eli.
"It was a fucking trap," Hound says, realizing the kid isn't Eli.
I want to rage inside the SUV. I want to climb out and burn that fucking house to the ground.
It becomes very clear, very fast, when I hear the mention of the amount of explosives in the house that Damien fully expected to kill the boy, the man tied up beside him, and the men guarding the house when the wire was tripped. Hell, it might've killed the neighbors as well. He wanted whoever was there to deal with the aftermath to believe that he killed Eli in the explosion.
"Bomb's clear," Jersey says, and everyone in the SUV moves into action.
I wait, sitting in the middle seat with my head in my hands.
Chatter continues, and everyone's voices come through loud and clear in my ears as they all try to assess the situation.
The man tied up beside the boy is no help. He was pulled off the street two days ago and has no fucking clue what's going on. He doesn't know who the boy is. They weren't together and they were transported to the house separately.
"Aiden Crown," Casper says into the mic. "He was taken from a playground two hours away. I'm contacting authorities."
"This is a fucking mess," Ace says. "Four dead, an abducted man, and a kidnapped child."
I know there will be a ton of red tape, but that doesn't concern me. I know this situation has to be assessed. There is a chance we might find something here that was overlooked and that could possibly lead us to where Damien is actually holding Eli, but the wait is fucking brutal.
"Look," someone says, and I lift my head out of my hands to grab the tablet Griffin left behind. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Where did you find that?" I recognize Hemlock's voice.
"It was in the pocket of one of the guards out front."
On the screen is a picture of a teenage boy and a note.
"Motherfucker," Hemlock says.
The note reads, I know I have to die, but please find my son.
The boy in the picture was the deceased young man who was discovered in the first grave one of the teams found. This man sacrificed his life today in vain. His son was already gone and had been for a while.
"Jesus fuck," Jersey whispers and I hear a round of grunts from several men who agree with him.
I climb out of the SUV and make my way toward the house.
"Found a note and a picture of the little girl on one of the other guards," someone else says.