Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
There were so many of them that I wasn’t sure where to point the pistol. A couple of men my dad’s age seemed to be leading the group so I pointed it at the one closest to me.
“Drop it,” the other older man ordered.
“What the fuck?” The man I was aiming at yelped, raising his hands in the air.
“Whoa,” one of the younger guys further away said in surprise, coming into view from the side of the cabin.
“Who the hell are you?” a huge guy only a few years older than me barked. He looked kind of familiar.
“Who the heck are you?” I snapped back, my bravado completely obliterated by the way my voice shook. My stomach was churning with fear. There were too many of them. Even if I shot one, I wouldn’t have time to shoot again before they reached me. They were all carrying guns. There was a good chance that if I started shooting, they would too. I couldn’t take the chance.
“Esther?”
For a split second, I thought I was seeing things as a man in the driveway rose to his feet and turned toward me, his familiar face coming into view. As soon as he’d said my name, though, my entire body started to shake.
I stared at him, wide-eyed. What in the world was happening?
The gun was surprisingly heavy, and my arms wobbled.
“Otto?” I croaked. “What are you doing here?”
“Honey, you wanna drop that?” the man closest to me said, startling me. I swung the pistol in his direction.
The big guy that looked familiar yelled, “Whoa!”
“A little help here?” someone else bellowed, making me jerk in fear. God, I wished they’d all just stop talking.
“Esther,” Otto called, getting my attention again. “Could you stop pointin’ that at my dad, sugar?”
“Your dad?” I asked in confusion, looking at the man closest to me. There was no way that guy was his dad. Otto was practically twice his size.
In a split second, I realized that I’d been beaten. There was no way I’d be able to protect myself from so many of them and once I realized that, my only option became perfectly clear. I gingerly lowered the gun back down as I shoved the hammer forward again.
My heart was racing as Otto strode toward me and without thought, I put one hand on my stomach, instinctively making sure the person in there was okay.
Someone said something to Otto, but I didn’t pay attention because he was still moving toward me and I couldn’t believe he was actually there.
“Did you come to get me?” I asked in disbelief, the words hoarse and broken. How had he found me? My throat tightened. Finally.
“What are you doin’ here?” he asked at the same time, coming to a stop on the first stair.
My question had been answered before I finished it. I swallowed hard. “I live here.”
“You live here?”
I nodded, raising my chin proudly even though everything inside me shriveled with embarrassment. I’d never been so grateful to have washed my hair.
“You two obviously know each other,” Otto’s dad said, taking a couple steps forward. He glanced at my belly. “Pretty well?”
“This is Esther,” Otto replied, his eyes still on me. “Yeah, we know each other.”
“This is all very entertaining,” the younger guy said. “But we’ve got some other shit goin’ on.”
“Shut the fuck up, Rumi,” Otto snapped, making me flinch.
The older man that wasn’t Rumi’s dad came closer. “We’re lookin’ for somethin’, darlin’,” he said, his voice not unkind. “You got anythin’ in there that we might be searchin’ for?”
I stared at him blankly for a moment before I remembered the guns. Instinctively, I took a step backward, reaching out to grip the door.
“Hey, it’s okay, sugar,” Otto murmured, following me. “No one’s gonna hurt you.”
“Why are you here?” I asked, the words echoing hollowly in my ears. I knew. I didn’t know how it came to be, or why in the world they’d be looking for those crates under my floorboard, but I knew with deep certainty they were there for the guns. What in the world was Otto involved in?
Otto stared at me for a moment before looking over at his dad. Then his eyes came back to mine. “Shipment of wooden crates got stolen yesterday mornin’,” he said, searching my face. “You know anythin’ about that?”
I wanted to tell him no. Disappointment and disillusionment and some kind of odd loyalty to my family made my head spin. If I told him they weren’t there, would he believe me? Would any of the other men who were getting closer and closer to the cabin believe me? I looked around the sea of faces.
No. Even if I told them the guns weren’t there, the men would still search. Maybe they wouldn’t find them. It was a possibility. I hadn’t even known about the trap door for months. But if they did find them and I’d pretended not to know what they were talking about? I had a feeling things would turn ugly really fast.