Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
Mom points me into a corner where Blaine is sitting with him, and I immediately get off my seat and approach them.
“Hey,” I say as I sit in front of Caleb and grab his hand. “How are you holding up?”
He shrugs. “Fine.”
I pull him in for a tight hug.
“Seems you’re already getting used to his lies,” Blaine says.
“Shut up,” Caleb growls.
But instead of throwing out another rebuke, Blaine moves in for a hug from above, wrapping his arms around his neck. “We know you love us.”
“Love is a strong word,” Caleb mutters, but he still accepts it.
“Lucky for you I have plenty of time to force you to love me back,” Blaine says, nearly choking him out.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Caleb says, pushing his arms away. “I won’t die from sorrow, but I will from your determination to suffocate me.” He rolls his eyes. “Ares sure left me in competent hands.”
“I’m just doing exactly what he told me,” Blaine says. “Being an annoying pest to keep you safe is my favorite thing in the world.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘Ares left you’?” I ask, frowning. “Where did he go?”
Caleb shrugs. “He got some phone call that he didn’t want to tell me anything about. I don’t know.”
My blood suddenly feels icy cold, and I shiver in place.
Caleb continues, “He just seemed antsy. Hasty. Out of it.”
“Oh God,” I mutter, my eyes widening.
“What?” Blaine looks up at me.
“Caleb, open your phone. Do you have any way of tracking his location?”
“Yeah, why?” he responds, fishing it out of his pocket.
“That phone call … It was his father.”
Blaine frowns. “But why toda—” I can see it click in his eyes. “He’s going to punish him for all the murders at the Bonesmen auction.”
ARES
I walk up to the casino and stare up at the lights on the front of the building. Just one of so many buildings, I can’t even count all of the riches he owns on two hands. Yet none of them will ever belong to me.
“Move.” My father’s guard shoves me in the back.
“Keep your hands to yourself.” I glance at him over my shoulder. “Unless you’d like to see them bitten off.”
His face contorts with horror, and I take pride in being the cause before I step forward into a hell far worse than Tartarus ever will be.
But I have no regrets.
I knew my choices would lead me here, and I would repeat them a thousand times over.
For her.
I swallow and walk through the crowd of people with the guards right behind me. My eyes skid from left to right across each of the hallways we march through, spotting a ton more guards, all of which have earpieces in. There’s never been this many.
Are they all here for me?
I smirk to myself as we march into the dark hallways, beyond the scope of where guests are allowed, and head straight toward the door at the end where my father’s domain makes my heart throb in my throat.
This is it. There’s no way back from here.
I step inside my father’s office, and the guard behind me closes the door again.
I’m left in a room with my father and one single guard I could possibly overpower … but at what cost? I’d be killed the second I stepped foot outside this door.
No, he wants me to know I’m outnumbered.
That it’s futile to resist.
He clears his throat from behind his desk. “Sit. Down.”
With a monotonous look on my face I step forward and grab the chair, scooting it back far enough so I don’t have to sit right in front of him. I don’t care if it pisses him off.
“Do you know why I’ve called you here?” he says.
“No.”
His eyes twitch. “Take a guess.”
“I have no clue.”
WHAM!
His fist comes down on the table. “Don’t play coy with me. You know better than to act like a fool in front of your father.”
I fold my arms. “Does it even matter? We both know what you want.”
His nostrils flare. “Tell me it wasn’t you that went inside that Bones Brotherhood auction. Tell me it wasn’t you who murdered all of them.” When I don’t answer, he screams, “Tell me!”
“What do you want to hear? That I’m sorry?” I ask. “I’m not. I never will be. They deserved every inch of pain I gave them.”
The more I speak, the more my father’s face contorts. And honestly, that look on his face alone was worth it.
He stands up, planting two hands on the desk as he towers over me. “How fucking dare you?!”
I already knew I was never going to be the perfect son.
But this … his rage over the fact that he can’t control me … is what I call true perfection.
He suddenly comes out from behind the desk and grips my chin. “Tell. Me. Why.”