Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
My brows furrow, and I shake my head, understanding what she’s saying but not believing a word of it because I saw her die. I saw every second of it and felt the grief tear through my chest.
“I’m right here, Mills,” she says, taking my hand and squeezing it. “We all are.”
Siren waves to a spot behind me, and I glance back over my shoulder seeing both Shadow and Reaper leaning against the hood of a black SUV. Reaper gives me a small smile and a chill sails down my spine. I watched this man fall in love with my best friend for a month, and despite seeing every part of him on those surveillance cameras, nothing could possibly prepare me for seeing him in the flesh. He’s simply terrifying.
As for Shadow, she looks guilty as shit.
“Wait. There’s so much I don’t get,” I say, looking back at Siren. “You said you died.”
“I did. Technically,” she tells me. “In the ambulance and again in the hospital. My heart gave out a few times, but I was revived. Same with Reaper.”
“Shit. But how though? The number one rule is to avoid hospitals and cops, and that would have brought both. Your identities—”
“It’s complicated,” she says, “and had it been my own plan, I probably would have done it differently, but our backs were against the wall, and we did whatever we had to do to get out of there. But we posed as the real homeowners of that house, claimed a murder/suicide gone bad, just like my parents, and while the cops were left with more questions than answers, it was enough for them to go on and not watch us so closely. Besides, the cops and FBI agents in Blue Springs were already so busy with the aftermath of War Games and all the bodies that came along with it, that our incident easily slipped through the cracks.”
“Shit, Siren.”
“You’re telling me,” she mutters under her breath. “We slipped out of the hospital the second we were up for it and have had Shadow taking care of us this whole time.”
“Wow.”
“She’s incredible,” Siren says, glancing over my shoulder and smiling at the girl who I thought ripped my heart right out of my chest. “It had to be timed so well, and she pulled it off incredibly. I think she must have been planning it for a while.”
I let out a heavy breath and lean back against the bench, holding onto her hand in a death grip, terrified that she might just disappear and I’ll never get her back. “So what now?”
Siren fixes me with a heavy stare. “I want to come home, Mills. Seattle is where I belong. I want to go back to my apartment and start a life with Reaper and Shadow. I want to go back to work. I want to be here with you, but I can’t.”
I shake my head, not seeing the bigger picture. “Why?”
“The second our identities are flagged, we’ll have a bounty out on us that we can’t escape. The prize money Shadow won would look like child’s play, and we’ll be hunted by the kind of people who make Reaper look like a fairytale. I can’t risk it, and the only way to avoid that is to take out the asshole behind War Games.”
I suck in a breath, my heart hammering in my chest, knowing exactly what she’s asking me. “I . . . I’ve tried, Siren. A million times. I’ve searched every corner of the web. He’s invisible.”
“Mills—”
“I’m sorry,” I say, tears filling my eyes. “You have no idea how desperately I wish I could help you, and you know I’m going to start searching the second I get home, but I’m not good enough. I can’t find him, no matter how hard I try, it’s not possible.”
“I believe in you, Mila,” she tells me, clutching my hand again. “If anybody can find this guy, it’s you.”
I let out a shaky breath, haunted by the idea of letting her down and being the reason she doesn’t get to come home. But more than that, being the reason she might end up with a bounty that not even the likes of Reaper could shake. “I’ll try,” I promise her, vowing to myself that I will do anything it takes and cross any boundary I have to finally find this guy. I won’t let her down.
My mind begins to swirl with a million different options I could try when a deep voice sails through the night. “Kienna. It’s time.”
My back stiffens, and I gape at my best friend. “Did he just call you—”
“Yeah,” she says with a dorky smile, swooning over the guy and making me realize just how much his love for her has healed her from the inside out. “It’s kind of a thing now. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you next, but I have to get going. We can’t stay in one place for too long. It’s too risky.”