Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
The screen splintered as the person crumbled to the ground.
Confusion held him for a muddled beat as he tried to process what he saw.
Hadley.
It was Hadley.
Daisy’s sister with blood pouring out the back of her head.
Cash bellowed when pain suddenly sliced at an angle across his back. From his right shoulder down into the lower left that was already raw and ruined by the burns.
The slice only incited a new rage.
A new fury when he realized that Hadley had known. That she hadn’t warned them. That she was involved.
He whirled back around to find that fucker Jaimie wasn’t dead.
Any amount of humanity Cash had left disintegrated.
Obliterated in a flashfire of violence.
Before Jaimie had time to prepare himself, Cash had grabbed hold of the bastard’s wrist, turned his hand around, and drove the knife through his jugular.
The blade devouring the flesh.
Blood poured out as the motherfucker’s eyes went wide with the truth that he was going to die.
Clawing at the knife, Jaimie dropped to his knees before he fell face first at Cash’s feet.
There was no relief, only the thirst for more. To enact vengeance. To destroy every last monster that walked the earth.
He turned around. Hadley was face down on the ground in a pool of blood.
Unmoving.
His throat thickened when he realized what he’d done.
Shame.
Guilt.
Hate.
He didn’t know which one he felt the strongest.
The only thing he knew for certain was he was empty.
His soul a void.
Numb, he turned and walked out, climbed into his truck, and drove.
Drove into the nothingness.
Because he had nothing left to give.
FIFTY-THREE
CASH
A thunder of motorcycles prowled through the night as we tore down the twisting mountain road. A score of angry metal that raced in the direction of the lux resort on the far side of town. Up the northern mountain near the ski slopes where I’d gotten a ping that Ethan had checked in.
I was at the helm, leader of the pack as we hit town on the south end, a host of single headlights spearing through the deep, dark night.
Most everything was closed up by now, the roads barren and the windowfronts of the shops and restaurants darkened. Only the dull glow from the streetlamps and random flickers of a neon sign illuminated the sleeping town.
Sickness coiled in my guts. My blood rushing with the same venom that had snuffed out my humanity when I was seventeen.
Only it felt different tonight. The numbness assuaged. A purpose rekindled. A stoking of life and soul.
The tether I’d lost regrounding me with purpose.
He wouldn’t get to her. He couldn’t have her.
She was mine.
My wife.
In that frenzy of certainty, something still felt off. A tacky sense that something didn’t quite add up.
The fact that it’d been difficult for me to even pick up a trace of him for all these weeks when I could normally dig out dirt on next to anyone. Fucker flying under the radar. And now he was just right out in the open? Showing up at the club and checking into a resort?
A hot poker of anxiety burned a hole in the middle of my chest. An open wound that had been inflicted.
Or maybe it felt more like a scar that had been torn open wide.
A motorcycle angled up to my side, and River gave me a jut of his chin. A silent question asking if I was okay. No question, he could feel the fluster of adrenaline that coursed through my veins. A flurry of questions and doubt that scattered into the lapping night.
I gave him a look of apprehension.
A slow shake of my head.
His midnight eyes blazed with understanding. Like maybe he was already feeling it, too.
The only solace I had was knowing the women were safe. There was no chance anyone could get to them inside the cabin.
It was fortified.
Armored.
Not to mention the six brutal killers standing guard outside.
We were on the other side of town, approaching the T at Vista View that would wind us around the lake and onto the road that led to the resort, when my phone went off in my pocket. An incessant vibration that pulsed through my body like an alarm.
A rock gathered in my throat, and I jerked my head to the right, indicating for everyone to pull off.
The engines growled and rolled as we edged to the side, and I ripped my phone from my pocket to see it was Trevan, one of the men guarding the house.
I killed my bike so I could hear as I answered, the words stones that toppled from my mouth. “What is it?”
“Hey, man, listen, I know we aren’t supposed to let a soul inside that house, and I take that command seriously, but Daisy came out here demanding that we let her in. But it didn’t sit right. Thought I needed to let you know.”
Apprehension fluttered through my consciousness. “What the fuck are you talking about?”