Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Alarick and I move closer.
Samson wraps his arms around her, too, the pain in his face real.
Zariah murmurs something to him, and his eyes clenched closed.
What does she know?
She pulls back and hands Samson a small folded piece of paper. He looks to her for a moment, and then glances down at it and opens it. Whatever he reads, makes his face scrunch in pain. He bellows some curse words, and Zariah puts a hand on his arm, giving him a sympathetic look.
What the fuck is goin' on?
"You want to tell us what went on?" I ask her.
She looks at us. "I met his daughter. Steven has her. She's so beautiful, Kendric. She's beautiful, and she's scared. She left me a note."
Pain stabs into my heart when I look to my brother's face and see the pain in his eyes as he reads over the note, his eyes scanning it repeatedly.
"What does it say?" I ask, my voice thick.
"It says 'I'm sorry, daddy. Please come and get me.'" Zariah whispers.
Alarick makes a sound next to me, and then, in a low voice, murmurs, "Fuck."
"Yeah," I roughly say.
"We have to find them, Alarick," Zariah says, her voice careful. "I know it's hard, now more than ever, but we have to find him. He'll hurt her."
"We'll find him. Startin' with this island," Alarick announces. "Bohdi, find somewhere to tie those fuckers. We're goin' to search this place."
"He said he left nothing," Zariah tells us. "He told me that he took anything that could link him to this."
"Then we go to the cops," I throw out. "Let them find this fuckin' island."
"They know about it, they know he owns an island," she goes on. "He has covered everything. Even if we could convince them to bring a team out here, they won't find anything. He's too smart. All they're going to see is a bloody vacation house."
"There are fuckin' cages..."
"That could be dog cages," Zariah sighs. "Look at them, really look at them. He could simply have animals in them. That's not illegal."
"Search," Alarick orders. "Search anyway. Find anything you fuckin' can. We will find this mother fucker and kill him."
Zariah squeezes Samson's shoulder and then walks over to me. I stretch and arm out and pull her close, needin' to have her by my fuckin' side. I can't lose her again. Can't let her out of my sight.
She's mine.
I'll make fuckin' sure of it.
ZARIAH WAS RIGHT, NOT a fuckin' thing shows up on the island. He's smart, alright. Everything is as it should be, just a vacation house where someone would come and enjoy themselves. Other than extra security like large fences, there is nothing to indicate he's doing anything wrong here. We upended everything, searched where we could. There isn't a single fuckin' thing that'll give us reason to get the cops out here.
As we're on our way back to land, we all sit in utter fuckin' silence. None of us know what to say, what to do. Yet again, these mother fuckers have taken us for a ride. Without Steven, we have nothin'. We fucked up, we let him get away, and now we're back to square fuckin' one, and I don't know what to fuckin' do about that. None of us do.
Zariah yawns beside me, smelling clean after she used the shower in the house before we left. She said the least he owed her was a fuckin' good shower. We also took all their fuckin' food, expensive items to sell, and anything else that we could take, simply to make us feel better. It's the only way we could flip them the bird. Fuckin' assholes have taken everything from us. It was the least we could do.
"Let's get you somewhere to sleep, goin' to be a long journey," I say, standing and pulling Zariah up.
We move out of the small living quarters, and I glance at Samson on the way past. He is sitting in the corner, hanging his head, utterly defeated. Breaks my fuckin' heart that he's feelin' this way right now. Everything he's done has been for nothin'. That can't feel good. Fuck, it can't feel good at all.
Zariah and I find a room that has a small bed in it. I find a blanket from a cupboard and lay it out over the one already on it. Not layin' on somethin' someone else has been on. I tuck the pillows under the blanket and then shrug off my jacket and get into the bed. Zariah climbs in, squeezing in beside me and pressing her body up against mine. She lays her head on my shoulder, and for a moment, we're both silent.
"You good?" I ask her.
"I think so," she whispers. "I don't know. I can't stop thinking about Samson and Lilian. I hate knowing she's with them."