Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
I have to get out of here.
It’s now or never.
Miraculously, we make it to the lobby of the building without incident. Once outside, I start walking down the street toward a busy intersection. It’s dark out but the city is bustling with people going to dinner. All too easily, I blend in with the crowd.
My heart is racing, but I attempt to stay calm. I won’t relax until we’re far, far away from Dad’s monstrous grip.
All this would be much easier if I could use my cards. But, since I left all that at home, and I don’t have any cash, I have to make my escape the old-fashioned way.
On foot.
Ty lives several blocks away. It’s a long and arduous trek, especially carrying a now sleeping child, but I keep going. Even when my feet throb so badly I want to cry. Even when I get lost. Even when a couple of guys say creepy stuff to me that has me running. When I finally make it to the address of the building where he lives, I almost fall to my knees with joy.
So close to real freedom.
For the past hour of my journey, I’ve constantly had to look over my shoulder. With each passing second, fear rises higher and higher like a swelling tide threatening to drown me. If he were to catch me now, when I was so close to escape, I’d probably die from defeat.
I’d be letting Della and me both down.
The building Ty lives in is nice. Nearly as nice as ours. It makes sense considering he’s a Constantine. I make sure to keep my head down and not look too suspicious.
An eternity of a wait on the elevator to his floor ends with a high-pitched ding.
I exhale the stress of the evening and suck in a breath of relief. We’ve made it. We’ve really made it. I keep expecting Dad to jump around a corner and drag us back home.
The door to Ty’s apartment feels like my last final hurdle of the night. I’ll rest and regroup. Then, tomorrow, I’ll be on the next leg of my journey.
Disappear with Della.
I knock on the door and then reposition Della’s sleeping form. She’s heavier than usual now that she’s completely passed out and isn’t holding on like before. I’m exhausted and my muscles are on fire. I could sleep for days, though I don’t have days.
Footsteps thud toward me from the other side and then the lock disengages. Ty opens the door and takes a long look at me.
But it’s not Ty.
No, concerned blue eyes don’t stare me down. There’s no smile or shimmering dark blond hair. No kindness or worry or even relief.
I’m staring at the darkness.
A void.
Deep and soulless.
It’s sucking me in though I’m mentally begging my worn-out feet to run.
Black shirt. Black jeans. Black boots. Black soul.
“F-Ford?” I choke out in confusion. “What are you doing at Ty’s house?”
Are they friends?
Dark eyes, like melted chocolate, flash at me. There’s something sinister in the way he smiles. Triumph. I can see it written all over his handsome face. He’s achieved something. I’d seen the same look on his face when he fingered me in the school bathroom, rough and cruelly, and yet I still begged for it. Came all over his fingers shamelessly.
“I don’t understand,” I murmur.
Move your feet, girl. Run!
“You will soon.” The deep timbre of his voice reverberates through me. “Come inside.”
I try to take a step back but my sore muscles don’t allow me to move. So he takes the step for me, clutches a possessive hand on the back of my neck and guides me inside. My heart flipflops inside my chest. I want to feel relieved at being in Ford’s presence, but something’s off. Something’s really wrong.
He has secrets.
Dark ones.
Twisted ones.
I know this. I’ve always known this. I just never understood them. Never could make sense of what they were.
The door closes behind me with a click of finality. It sends a shiver down my spine. Maybe, if I keep him calm long enough, I can get Chevy to surface. I almost sob at the thought of him holding me right now through the anxiety and overwhelming stress. I need that. I need him.
“Who was at the door?”
The voice is Ford’s but he’s not speaking. He simply watches me in an expectant way. Like he’s waiting for a bomb to drop and to see my reaction. My stare finds the man entering the space behind him.
Ty?
Stupid, stupid girl. You know better.
Ford gapes at me. Confused. Horrified.
He has a twin. He has a freaking twin. It makes sense now. All those times when he’d mention his brother…
But that means he’s been playing me.
Lying to my face.
Switching out with his brother.
I’m going to be sick. A low mewl crawls up my throat. I’m paralyzed. I can’t move and don’t know what to say. Betrayal is a knife to my chest—stabbing over and over again, puncturing my lungs and my heart both.