Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
“I can handle Derick.”
“Are you sure?”
No, she wasn’t.
“I know what I’m doing when it comes to dear old dad,” she said confidently.
In reality she had no clue.
“You seem bigger,” she told him.
He raised his eyebrows. “Is that your way of telling me that I’m getting fat?”
“Uh, no. Of course not! Sheesh. I would never say that!”
“Because it seems like you’re getting too skinny.”
“Rohan!”
“Yes?” he drawled.
“You can’t comment on a woman’s weight.”
“But you’re not a woman. You’re my sister.”
“I’m still a woman,” she told him.
“You’re still gonna be the girl that I had to give the birds and the bees talk to. And help her with her first period.”
She grimaced. “God. Can we not talk about that? Although I’m still amazed you got that period book for me.”
“I stole it from the library.”
“You didn’t!”
He shrugged. “Well, I didn’t have money to buy one.”
“But . . . but a library is free! You could have signed up and borrowed it.”
“Um, yeah, I was seventeen and thought I was so cool. No way was I going to sign up to the library and then borrow a book about periods.”
“Hmm,” she said. “I see your point.” No seventeen-year-old boy wanted to be seen with a book on periods.
“What’s going on, Devi,” he murmured. “You look tired, you’ve lost weight. Is it all about the old man?”
She ran her hand over her face. “I’m fine. I’m just tired. It’s seven weeks until my showing.”
A big smile filled his face. “Dee-dee, that’s great. Have you got enough money for transporting everything?”
She nodded happily. “Yep. I paid the deposit and the rest is due on arrival of my stuff at the gallery. I’m really doing this. I’m going to make enough money to get away from him.”
“Good. You listen to me. You take that money and you move as far away as you can,” he told her fiercely.
She shook her head immediately. “That’s not happening. I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m in this place for another ten years at least. Maybe more.”
It wasn’t fair. It was a waste of his life. And for what? A bungled fucking trial.
He’d only been in here for three months . . . how were they both going to handle him being in here for another ten years?
Devi felt tears well up, but she forced them back.
“It’s not fair. You didn’t do this, there is no way you would ever kill Marcus.”
They were best friends and they had been since they were little. She knew that her brother would never harm him. But the cops hadn’t cared about that. All they cared about was making a quick arrest.
No one else believed in his innocence. No one but her.
“I was found at the scene with his blood on me,” he pointed out.
“You were trying to stop the bleeding.”
“It didn’t look that way to the cops.”
“Because they’re idiots! They saw you standing over the body and decided you must have done it.” Agitation filled her. “They didn’t even bother to look for anyone else.”
“I’m not just anyone, little sister,” he said soothingly. “I’m in a gang.”
“We both know you didn’t do it.”
“Yeah, but you can’t blame the cops for thinking that I did it. I was there. I had blood on me. I didn’t see anyone else around. And the text that I received from Marcus somehow disappeared off both his phone and mine.”
Yeah. That was the real issue with his explanation. He’d gotten a text from Marcus that he was in trouble and he’d sent him a pin where he was. But when the cops checked both phones the messages were gone.
She didn’t understand how that could happen. How could those messages just disappear?
“Someone set you up,” she said quietly.
“I know. But there’s no way to know who.”
There could be. She just had to put her mind to it.
“Don’t,” her brother said firmly.
“Don’t what?” She gave him an innocent look.
“I know that look, Devi. And you made me a promise, remember?”
Drat. He’d made her promise not to interfere.
“We never go back on our promises, do we?”
Devi swallowed heavily. “I can’t stand you being in here. You did nothing wrong.”
He just shook his head. But she knew what he was thinking. That he had done some bad things. That he deserved to pay for them. But she knew him . . . desperation had drawn him to join the gang.
However, he’d never kill anyone. He’d never harm anyone who was an innocent. And he’d definitely never kill Marcus.
But neither of them could say anything. Not there.
“That quack lawyer should have gotten your sentence reduced,” was what she said instead.
Sixteen years. Ten without parole.
At least it wasn’t life without parole. The cops couldn’t prove a motive, and she was certain the lawyer could have used that to get the sentence reduced further.
All right, all of her law knowledge came from television, but it wasn’t hard to tell that asshole, Stein, hadn’t done the best job for her brother.