Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I, however, am dragged back under, an iron grip on my ankle.
Screaming and losing what little air in my lungs I have left, I turn to face my attacker. Theo floats beside me, blood curling out of a wound in his abdomen. Orion, having lost his gun, grabs my throat.
My struggle is only for a second because I’m out of air and everything is turning black.
Another shot cracks underwater, and I open my eyes one last time. Orion stares at me with a wide, unfocused stare as blood oozes out of his temple. Someone jerks me from behind.
I wake on the side of the pool, someone pumping my chest. Water gushes out of my throat and I’m turned on my side. Then I’m dragged into Caius’s familiar arms.
“Thank God you’re still alive,” he hisses, voice hoarse. “Fuck, love, you scared the shit out of me.”
“LuLu,” I whimper.
“DeLuLu’s gonna be fine,” Nees calls out.
“Theo?”
Caius starts to sob.
No.
Caius
I can’t stop shivering.
Or panicking.
Or fucking crying.
Romy tries again to cover my shoulders with a blanket. The hospital is cold. Why do they keep it so damn cold?
“You have to either change or let me warm you up,” she says, voice firm. “Let me put this around you.”
Defeated, I let her care for me. I’m not sure how long we’ve been sitting in the waiting room, but it feels like an eternity. But my clothes are damp, not dry, which means it can’t have been too long.
He’s dead.
I can’t believe my father is dead.
Worse, I killed him. I didn’t want to, but he made me. When I found him with his hands around Romy’s throat, submerged in the bloody water, I lost it. The gun he stole from me was at the bottom of the pool, and there was a bullet with his name on it.
“Why won’t they give us an update?” I croak out. “That’s bad. That means it’s bad.”
“Shhh,” she whispers, hugging me to her. “That’s not true. If it were bad, we’d have news already. It’s taking so long because they’re trying to save him.”
I think about Theo when he was just a goofy preteen. That kid adored me. He always wanted to do what I wanted to do. I’m pretty sure I was the brother he always wanted.
Then somewhere along the way, everything got all fucked up.
He chose Dad’s side, kissed Romy, and tricked us into our forced separation. I want to hate him for those things. And yet I keep seeing those innocent green eyes asking if I can play another game of dominoes with him or watch an action movie together.
He hurt me and I gave up on him.
My chest aches and I rub at it through my damp shirt. “He tried to make things right. I never let him. I was never going to forgive him.”
“I know,” Romy whispers. “I know.”
Hot tears streak down my cheeks. I’m tired of swiping them away. I feel as if I failed that kid. He didn’t choose to be with Dad and our family. It wasn’t his fucking choice. But he loved hard and made the best of the situation. Theo has always been impulsive and made the wrong decisions, but his heart is good. I know this.
“He just wanted to redeem himself.” I sniffle and shudder from the cold-ass air-conditioning. “Why is it a damn morgue in here?”
Romy laughs through her tears. “I don’t know. It’s terrible, though. I’m pretty sure my breastmilk is frozen solid.”
I shuffle to lift my arm and draw her under the blanket with me. Though she’s still wet, she warms my fucking soul. I kiss the top of her head.
“When this is all over, I’m going to sleep for a week.”
She shakes her head. “You have a newborn and a six-year-old. That’s not happening, sweetheart.”
This makes me grin despite the pain clawing at my heart. “Not going to lie, I’m looking forward to relaxing with my girls again.”
“Me too. Eva says they’re good. She thinks we should come back to the hotel for a little while. Even just to change before heading back. She’s worried about us.”
I’m not worried about us.
I’m worried about my brother, who was unresponsive and turning gray by the time EMS arrived. He lost so much blood.
Bile creeps up my throat. The candy bar Romy made me eat a few moments ago curdles in my stomach.
“I can’t leave him,” I murmur. “Not until I know…”
I don’t finish that statement.
We both know what it means.
“She gave me an update on LuLu,” she says, a smile in her voice. “Her parents were at work when she went missing again. They immediately called Hadley because they knew something was off. They’re actually at the compound in Tulsa, waiting for her return.”
“Is she okay, though? Physically? Mentally?”
“Eva says she is. A little bruised from the ropes cutting into her, and her chest hurts from the CPR Nees did, but she’s okay. Just wants to see you.”