Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Steele was cool. Popular. That was obvious to see. His group of friends seemed to be friends with my daughter.
I shared a horrified look with Mason, both of us realizing what she was trying to do. I rasped out, “You’re trying to recruit my daughter?”
Her eyes were soulless. She tucked her hands behind her back and swung her shoulders from side to side. All demure-like and the devil incarnate. “That’s the thing. Right? The dangerous part of secret societies. Cults. Once you get in someone’s head, in their emotions, you can’t get out. I’m in Maddy’s head. The guys were nice enough to introduce us, to let us hang out at Beltraine’s house on the weekend. Your daughter is real nice. She looks up to me. She likes me.”
Axel’s nose was wrinkled. His top lip curled up in disgust.
Steele’s eyes were bulging out, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Beltraine shared the same, but there was an undercurrent with him. A darker feeling. He was plotting and the way he was staring at Sabrina, those thoughts were about her.
God.
Was it true? Did Sabrina already have a handle on Maddy? Was she so far in that we’d never be able to get Sabrina’s influence out of her? We were seeing the real life product of this recruitment in person. My sister was proof of how powerful, how dangerous that type of recruitment could be.
I had no idea what kind of person my sister might’ve been because she was all Park Sebastian personified. She was his puppet.
No.
I shook my head, eyes closing. It couldn’t be true, but I thought Maddy had been spending time with different friends. I met them. Thought they were great influences. I didn’t know it had all been a lie, but Maddy had consistently been lying since James died.
James…
Oh—no, no, no.
No—I locked eyes with Mason, but…
He knew. He already knew.
He’d been waiting for me to get there.
The old secret society wanted James. Badly.
The new one… They were about revenge, apparently.
They hadn’t come after me because of my father, but there would’ve been nothing to keep them away from James.
My stomach twisted. I covered my mouth as vomit churned up my throat.
Dear Lord. No.
My sister quieted as she watched me. As I pieced things together, her smile only grew.
Her face wasn’t even human right now. If I’d been told a demon possessed her, I would’ve believed it. Her eyes were bone chilling. She was so eager. Her head inclined toward me, and she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “Did you figure it out? Are you there yet?” She was so breathless from her excitement.
I couldn’t voice it.
I couldn’t put into words what I was thinking because it would’ve been a nightmare come to life. I couldn’t do that to Mason. To Logan. He’d been their father. My children’s grandfather. But he would’ve been vulnerable.
Analise died and he’d been lost, missing her.
“You’re there, aren’t you? You can tell me. Give me a hint. I don’t want to jump ahead if you’re not there yet. It’s best if you got there on your own. More fulfilling that way.” She took two steps my way, the exhilaration vibrating off her body. Her eyes were wild, gone, as if she were on drugs. “Give me a hint. Come on. Something.”
I shook my head, taking a step away from her. Wrapping my arms around myself, I couldn’t stomach being around her. She wanted to boast about it. She was begging for me to let her spill all the horrible details.
“Sam,” Mason murmured, starting for me.
“Don’t!” I held up a hand, stopping him. I bit out, “Don’t. What they did—” I couldn’t finish. My throat spasmed, choking me. “It was them, Mason. They did it.”
“I know.” His words were quiet.
This was what he was referring to when he said we hadn’t learned it all. This was the rest.
I couldn’t handle it if there was more.
I was going to snap. My sanity would shatter, and I’d be like my mother. It was genetic. I was predisposed. Just needed the right type of environment and I could follow in her footsteps.
“You’re there. Aren’t you? Come on.” She was writhing, whining as if we were having sex and she was pleading for more, more, more. “I already told you about Maddy, but there’s one more. Can you guess? I need you to guess. He told me I couldn’t say anything until you brought it up. He said that’d be burying the lead, whatever that means. So. Come on. Puh-lease. Just say his name—”
I couldn’t give her the satisfaction.
Holding Mason’s gaze, seeing the sadness and yearning in him, he wasn’t going to say his father’s name either.
“Okay. I know. I’ll give you a hint.” She clapped and bounced. “Oh! This is so exciting. So, first hint is that we never thought we could get him to kill himself—”