Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
But what was eating at me most was the look I left on her face.
Like I’d already broken her.
But that’s what this would be if we let this spiral any further.
A complete breaking.
Thank fuck Cash had broken that shit up before we crossed a line that we couldn’t take back.
Because having Piper Whittman that way?
Whatever I was trying to stop myself from feeling was going to bust free of the dam.
Rage burned across Kane’s face. “Say we don’t take the chance, break a couple rules, and take this fucker out. Maybe a mugging that goes south.” He might have been nothing but grins and jokes, but he was the most bloodthirsty vigilante of us all.
It’d been discovered last year that he’d gone rogue and had been taking out a bunch of sick trafficking bastards for years.
Otto heaved a massive sigh. “Not that I wouldn’t love to see this fucker in the ground, but it’s risky, man. Piece of shit is high profile.”
He shook his head. “And with his wife and kid missing? It’s only going to cause a brand-new media shitstorm. Reignite the whole thing. Alicia and Lucy’s faces will be plastered all over the place again. Don’t think we can go that route unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Otto’s right,” River agreed.
“Yeah.” I offered a rigid nod. “Know how desperate Alicia is to start their new life, and that would likely postpone their relocation by at least six months and would only increase the chance of them being exposed by tenfold.”
“So, what do we do?” River’s attention jumped around to each of us.
Blowing out a strained sigh, I sat forward and nervously tapped my fingers on the tabletop. “You all know about the blacked-out SUV I saw slinking through the motel. Pretty sure I saw the same one earlier tonight, and it gave me the same damn feeling.”
Lifting the hairs at the nape of my neck.
I inhaled before I blew the strain back out. “Something woke me up this morning. A sound or just a sense. I’m not sure. When I went to check it out, was pretty sure I saw a light in the woods. Someone lurking. I took off after them but could never catch up to anything. I might have just been chasing something in my imagination, but none of this bullshit sits right.”
Unease blustered through my crew.
“And the SUV you saw earlier?” Otto asked.
Regret tightened my chest. “Tried to tail it through town but lost him at a light.”
“Fuck,” Kane mumbled under his breath.
“I was going to suggest that we add extra security to Unit A, anyway,” I continued. “But after this? We need to have someone on Alicia and Lucy twenty-four-seven.”
“Do we even need to vote on that?” Kane asked with a glance around the room.
Everyone shrugged in clear agreement.
It was always our priority.
Our only purpose to ensure the safety of those in our care.
“I’ll pull Jonah from security,” Kane said.
Jonah was one of the long-term bouncers at Kane’s. Usually manning the door but always there when we needed extra help.
He didn’t have the clear on all the details, but he knew there was a whole lot more to who we were, and he’d proven that we could trust him.
“Is that going to put you in a pinch?” River asked.
Kane rocked back in his chair. “Nah. My team is solid.”
“Good,” River said before he looked at me. “You okay with Jonah being posted at the motel?”
“Yeah. I would appreciate it.”
“Does that work for everyone?” River asked.
A round of “Yups” went around.
“Good. Any other business we need to talk about?”
Cash shook his head. “Everything else has been pretty quiet. Working a single lead that came in from a social worker in Michigan, but it’s only at the very beginning stages.”
“Okay, then.” River sat forward. “If no one has anything else to add, we’ll adjourn this meeting.”
He stretched his fist out into the middle of the table, and everyone repeated after him, “Our oath to the afflicted. Our oath to the forsaken. Our oath to Sovereign Sanctum.”
I would always stand for the forsaken. That was the easy part. Care given, but not the kind that really mattered. Not the kind that got mangled and twisted in your heart.
Compassionate but platonic.
My conscience clashed with my spirit. Guilt clotting off air flow as my mind raced back to my greatest sin. To the oath I had made to myself that I would never go there again.
All while my heart screamed that I’d already broken it.
THIRTY-FOUR
THEO
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD
“I want to go with you.”
“Scarlett…” Theo breathed her name on a sigh of hesitation.
His arms were outstretched, hands gripping the handlebars and his boots planted on the ground. The powerful engine grumbled in the approaching night. A heavy vibration that tolled through his body. As volatile as the war that waged in his spirit.