Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
We stop at the door. It’s timber. Probably reinforced, but I’ll take my chances.
“Stand back, baby,” I say. We don’t know what’s behind this door, and if it’s someone waving a gun around then I need to be able to protect Ella.
She does as I say, and I kick the door, but it resists. So I kick it again and again until it implodes inward.
Immediately, the room behind it comes into view. It’s large, with brick walls and a low ceiling. It’s pooled with golden light from more wall sconces.
The only shadow in the room is near the far wall where there is a bed, medical equipment and a trolley of medical supplies.
And lying on the bed is a body connected to IV fluids.
Angelo Moretti.
Ella’s father.
Behind me, Ella cries out and pushes past me and flings herself at the bed. “Father!”
“Goddammit,” Beast says from behind me. His head is bent because of the low ceiling. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Looks like he’s been locked down here and drugged.”
Beast looks around. “Walls look soundproof so no one could hear him scream if he woke up.”
“Fuck, this is medieval shit,” I say, taking in the old man’s form on the bed. He is out cold. Pale and gaunt. Barely alive.
Beast pulls out his phone. “I’ll call an ambulance.”
“There’s a few bodies around,” I warn him.
“Inside or out?” he asks.
I give him a sheepish grin. “Both.”
He nods. “I brought Bear, Gambit, Axe, and Ryder with me. They’ll load the bodies into the van and dispose of them in the usual place.”
The usual place being the Devil’s Mouth.
“We’ll leave Luca where he is for the authorities,” Beast adds. “He’s too high profile to hide.”
“He was able to hide his father,” I say, looking at an emaciated Angelo on the bed.
“Yes, but he put on an elaborate funeral. Don’t think your girl is going to give him such a farewell.” He pauses. “It’s your kill, so it’s your call. It’s a clear case of self-defense. Although the severed hand might be tricky to explain.”
“It’s not my kill. It was Ella’s.”
Beast’s expression doesn’t change. He simply nods.
“Go take care of your girl,” he says. “We’ve got this handled.”
I walk over to the bed where Ella weeps, holding her father in her arms.
I look at the old man.
Five months.
Five goddamn months, drugged and locked in a cellar.
Killing Luca Moretti once isn’t enough.
The evil fuck should’ve died slowly, over and over again.
CHAPTER 65
Ella
I still can’t believe my father is alive. I ride in the ambulance to the hospital and stay with him. The doctor says he will live. But he is very unwell. Severely undernourished and weak, with extreme muscle deterioration.
The only reason I leave his side is to check on Lucretia.
After saving her from Viktor, Beast took her back to the clubhouse, and it’s where I find her, asleep on Annika’s lap in the library, with the rest of the old ladies and club girls around her.
“She finally drifted off to sleep about twenty minutes ago,” Annika says quietly.
I kneel in front of her and Lucretia. I don’t want to wake my sister. She looks peaceful. At the hospital, Beast assured me Viktor hadn’t had a chance to do the unthinkable to her. But if the Knights hadn’t shown up, I don’t doubt he would have.
I think about Viktor’s head in the box, and I’m happy he’s dead.
I reach out and stroke my sister’s hair.
“Thank you for looking after her,” I whisper.
“She’s been through a lot,” Annika says.
I try to bite back a sob, but it breaks through. “I know.”
“But so have you by the sounds of it,” she says. And the hand she puts on my arm is kind and comforting. Which I never expected from the ice queen.
“I’m so sorry I lied to you,” I say, rising to my feet as I cast a look around the faces in the room. “All of you.”
“Hey, you don’t need to apologize. From what Beast said, you didn’t have a lot of choice,” Luna says.
“I don’t think I would’ve been as strong,” Bambi adds.
I turn to Mya. My bestie. And my face cracks with another sob. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh honey.” She wraps her arms around me and hugs me close. “I can’t imagine what you were going through.”
“Beast says your father is alive,” Belle says, nursing Lucy in her arms. “How is he doing?”
“They’re running tests. They don’t know what’s been done to him in the cellar.” Just the thought makes me want to shoot Luca again. “I should really get back to the hospital.”
My gaze slides to my sister.
“We’ll look after her,” Annika assures me.
“She has all of us looking out for her,” Bambi says.
Demri takes my hands. “Go be with your father. Lucretia is safe.”
I look at the women rallying around my sister. Around me. “I don’t know how to thank you guys.”