Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“Oh my God, this is fucking rich,” Silas says. “A serial killer dating the cop?”
I would chop off his head if he wasn’t already laughing it off.
“Shut the fuck up,” I grit.
“You’re for real?” Levi asks. “Foley?”
“Call me Atreus,” Atreus says.
“Whatever,” Levi barks back. “Don’t touch my sister.”
“He can touch me when I say he can,” I rebuke. “No one decides for me.”
“This is a joke, right?” Dad growls, pointing at Atreus. “A Foley?”
“Yup,” I reply. “And there ain’t nothing you’re gonna do about it.”
“What if I forbid it?”
Kai snorts. “Good luck. She’s just as unstoppable as her mother.”
“Fucking really?” my uncle growls. “Anyone but a fucking Foley.”
“Do not bring your personal feud into this,” I warn him.
He rubs his eyes. “Whatever.”
“I didn’t ask for permission. Not from any of you. But I do need you to accept that we’re a quartet now,” I say, putting my arms around my boys. “For better or worse.”
“Well, well, you got roped in too, bro?” Heath says, winking at his half brother. “Nicely done.”
“That’ll be the end of him,” Apollo says, flexing his muscles. “Want me to save your ass?”
“I’m right where I want to be,” Orion replies.
“He likes the pain,” I say.
“TMI,” Cecelia responds, averting her gaze.
“Wait, so you’re only fucking them from now on?” Elliot asks. “I thought you were a ho.”
“I’m still a ho, I just choose to be a monogamous ho,” I quip, throwing him a look.
“I’m impressed, Xav, not gonna lie,” Aspen says, winking at her brother.
“But why them?” Silas asks.
“Because they helped me get through the toughest time in my life,” I say, swallowing away the lump in my throat. “I couldn’t tell anyone this before because it was too fresh, too personal. Back when I was in the hospital, the doctor wanted to speak in private about my condition.”
“I remember,” Mom mutters.
“Those men I killed, the ones Foley wanted to arrest me for … they took away my ability to ever have children.”
The whole room has gone quiet, and I think the only audible sound is my own heartbeat pounding in my rib cage, trying to jump ship. But it’s now or never.
“So I had my revenge.”
Mom immediately jumps up from the couch and runs to me, wrapping her arms around me so tightly the tears spring to my eyes. We’ve hugged … but not like this. She’s never hugged me this intensely before. And it moves me in a way that it’s almost impossible to breathe through it.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” she whispers.
“It’s not,” I whisper back. “They broke me.”
“God, I wish I’d known sooner, I would’ve helped you get your revenge,” she says, clenching her jaw as she pulls me back to look at me. “You shouldn’t have gone through this all alone.”
“I wasn’t alone,” I say, smiling as I nod at my boys. “They helped me.”
She glances at all three and then back to me. “You did good.” And she hugs me again. “You’re perfect, always.”
“I’m a killer, Mom.”
“We’re all killers in this room.”
She refuses to let go, no matter how hard I push away.
“I was so afraid,” I mutter.
“I know you were.”
“I didn’t want to die.”
The final piece of the misery in my heart unravels, and I hold on tight to the only person who truly gets me for who I am.
“But you made it, and you’re not going to die, not for a long time. And I want you to know, to feel, that we—that I—will always love you. Even if you think of yourself as broken, you’re not. You’re more than the sum of your organs, more than what you are able to do. Your body doesn’t define who you are, your actions do. And you’ve shown to yourself, to everyone around you, to the fucking world that you are who you say you are.”
I nod several times, and Dad approaches to hug me too.
“We hear you. We see you,” he says. “Do you know why we named you Sunny?”
I roll my eyes. “I’ve always hated that name.”
“I know,” Dad says. “But you light up my world. You always do and you always will. Nothing you do could ever deter us. And when everything fails, you’re there to save the people you love. You are a Sunny, because you shine brighter than anyone on this earth. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I say.
“Good. That’s all you need to remember, kid.”
He pats me on the back, and I feel like I can finally let go of all that anger that’s been constricting my veins and poisoning my soul.
“And if you want three instead of just one fuck buddy, hell, who am I to stop you?” Mom says.
“Thanks,” I retort, snorting.
Dad winks as he adds, “Make that Foley fucker grovel on the floor like I did for your mom.”
I gasp. “You groveled on the floor?”