Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“I didn’t do anything!” I told him. “Randall, please, I swear I didn’t.”
“She’s been upset for years because she felt like she ruined her friendship with you. She even broke up with me after you ran out of the fucking house!” he shouted at me. “It took me months to get her to come back to me, and the second she sees you again, she fucking leaves me again! You’re the fucking root of all of my problems! It’s a goddamn blessing you murdered our kid.”
I slapped him, my chest heaving up and down with rage and hurt, tears streaming down my face.
But that was probably the worst thing I could have done.
He wrapped his hand around my throat and slammed me against the wall, lifting me a couple of inches off the floor. I clawed at his wrist and hand, my lungs screaming for air. I could barely think past the panic clouding my brain.
“You stupid, little bitch,” he snarled.
I swung my leg up, kneeing him between his legs. He roared in pain as he dropped me, falling to his knees. I scrambled up from the floor and rushed for Caiden’s room, knowing he would have something I could use to defend myself with. An ex-military guy had to have something, right? If he didn’t, I was fucked. Well and truly fucked.
I quickly closed and locked his bedroom door, tears rushing down my face as I called 9-1-1.
Before I could hit the call button, the door burst open behind me, the wood splintering. Randall tackled me down to the floor, and the phone went flying from my hand. I screamed, and the world went black, a flash of pain firing through my skull.
18
NOT YOU
Caiden
The front door was hanging open when I pulled into the driveway. I quickly slammed on my brakes and threw my car in park before I jumped out, leaving the car running. My feet slapped against the concrete as I rushed toward the stairs.
“Ally!” I shouted, rushing inside.
I checked her room first, thinking she might be in there. “Caiden,” she whimpered, the sound tearing at my soul.
I quickly changed direction, rushing toward my room where her voice had come from. My door was hanging off of its hinges, and Ally was on the floor. Her face was bloody, her clothes ripped off. She was shaking and trembling, bruises already popping up on her porcelain-like skin.
“No,” I whispered hoarsely. Fuck, it was a scene out of a goddamn horror movie. “Fuck, baby, I’m here,” I soothed as I snatched my sheet from my bed. I kneeled beside her on the floor and draped the sheet over her. “I’m here. It’s going to be okay.” Tears tracked down her cheeks, her shaking intensifying.
“It hurts,” she whimpered.
“I know,” I told her, my voice low and soothing. “I need to wrap you up, okay? It’s going to hurt. I’m so fucking sorry.”
I didn’t know which emotion was stronger—rage or concern. She’d been raped. There was no fucking question in my mind as to what had happened to her. And I would kill whoever the fuck did this to her. No goddamn doubt about that. I’d rip this world apart for her.
She whined, the sound tearing at every fiber of my being as I moved her up, wrapping the sheet around her body before I lifted her from the floor, easily standing up with her in my arms. I rushed out of the house and carried her down the stairs to my car. I brushed my lips to her bloody, bruised cheeks. “We’re going to get you help, baby. Just hang on for me, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered, her voice breaking, blood trickling from her split lip.
I gently eased her into my passenger seat and rushed around to my open driver’s side door, calling Christian through the Bluetooth system. His phone just rang, but he didn’t answer, most likely with a patient.
I called Axel next as I hit the pavement, flying toward the hospital.
“Axel Johnson-Markos,” he answered.
I grabbed Ally’s hand in mine as she sobbed, the sound making my heart squeeze in my chest. “Axel, it’s Caiden. Where’s Christian?” I asked him.
“With a patient,” he told me, his tone becoming more solemn and worried. “What’s going on?”
Ally began to cry—loud, soul-shaking sobs. I brought her hand to my lips, holding them there for a moment. “I’m taking Ally to the hospital,” I told him. God, her cries were ripping at the shreds of my sanity. They were so heartbroken, so painful. I drew in a deep breath. “It’s bad, Axel.”
“Where’s my sister?” his voice thundered through the car, making Ally whimper. I gently squeezed her hand, pressing kisses to her bruised knuckles.
“She’s with me,” I told him. “Something happened. I’m not talking about it over the phone.” He growled, but I wasn’t intimidated by him. I’d faced men thousands of times more terrifying, pointing a gun in my face. “Fucking get my brother and tell him to get his fucking ass to the hospital.”