Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Remind me every few months to contact CPS and arrange regular health check-ins for that baby,” I say, feeling completely in shock. I had imagined a million things coming out of my mother’s mouth, but not that, and now I’m suddenly going to have a baby sister, someone who will inevitably suffer the same horrendous childhood I had. Potentially even worse being raised in the same house as Elias. Though considering he hasn’t managed to turn himself in to the cops yet, there’s a good chance he might wind up dead. Mom might just get everything after all.
“We’ll make sure that baby is safe,” he assures me.
I nod against his chest, staring off in the distance. “Did I do the right thing by kicking her out?” I ask. “Considering what Elias is capable of, there’s a good chance he’s going to try to kill her.”
“To be honest,” he says, “I don’t know. You offered her help. You gave her the facts. It’s her prerogative what she does with that information, and she chose to look the other way. She’s on her own now. You can’t always help everyone, and you can’t help those who don’t want to be helped.”
“Yeah, I suppose. Maybe it’s time to unblock her,” I say, sinking into him as his lips brush across my forehead. “As much as she irritates me and has chosen not to believe me, she’s still my mom, and if Elias were to miraculously return and she tried to call for help but couldn’t get through because I had her blocked, I’d never be able to forgive myself. She’s carrying my baby sister, and if something happened to that innocent little soul when I could have done something to help . . .”
“I know,” he says, lifting his hands to my shoulders and giving them a firm squeeze. “Come on. Let’s go enjoy what’s left of our night. We’ll work on tracking down that bastard tomorrow.”
I nod, and he leads me back to the couch we’d been sitting on not long before, and as I drop into his lap, I find myself caught inside my own mind, struggling to break free. It’s one thing to learn that Mom has been cheating on Elias and got herself knocked up, but to find out that he slipped away nearly a week ago terrifies me.
Did he run to get away from jail time, or is he simply biding his time until he can take me for himself? A chill sails down my spine, and despite being here in Knight’s arms, I’ve never felt so unsafe in my life, knowing that at any point, Elias could appear. He could step out of the darkness with that terrifying mask and follow through on every last threat he gave.
“You know,” Laith says, piping up for the first time since the whole Big & Long Schlong #3 debacle, dragging me out of my inner turmoil. “If you’ve got this whole thing wrong and your mom actually isn’t an adulterous skank bitch and that baby really is Elias’s, then you two technically would be related by blood. That baby is your blood sister, tiger, and she’s Knight’s biological niece.”
Horror floods my chest, and as I suck in a breath, I turn to meet Knight’s stare, finding him just as uneasy as I am. “Does that make you my half uncle?” I ask him, trying to draw a mental family tree in my head, and unable to figure out if that would take our relationship from just frowned upon to something a little more messed up.
“Uhh . . . I don’t know. Is that worse than being a step-uncle?”
I shake my head, completely lost. “I’ve got no fucking idea.”
“Well fuck,” Knight says. “Someone start Googling this shit.”
24
HARPER-RAYN
Ahhhh. There’s nothing quite like the smell of death in the morning.
I stride into the morgue, first thing Monday morning, for my first day back. The place buzzes with people. Interns. Administration. Assistants, and of course, Dr. McKullan.
Early-morning daylight streams through the small basement windows, lighting up the morgue in a way I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s refreshing, but not as refreshing as the knowledge that I’m officially done with my medical leave and don’t have to be put on bed rest ever again. Well, assuming we’re able to track down Elias and finally finish this.
Knight and his team have been searching endlessly for his brother, putting in hours of overtime to ensure my safety. When you’re a billionaire, going off the radar is as easy as bagging yourself a gold-digging wife, and unfortunately, Elias knows every trick in the book. He hasn’t left a single trail behind.
Knight hasn’t forgotten about me, though. I’ve had a protection detail glued to my ass every moment of every day. Today is Anders . He’s one of the younger members of the team, and usually pretty cool to hang out with, but to be honest, today isn’t his day. He’s been looking queasy, and I don’t doubt it has everything to do with the prospect of spending his day in the morgue. Make it make sense, though. He’s a literal SWAT officer. He deals with death every day. Does the unthinkable, but come time for a little postmortem bone sawing, and he suddenly can’t handle it.