Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
I opened my mouth to say something, anything—too late.
He pressed the call button at the same time he moved her gag back in place.
The call was picked up on the other end, but he didn’t say anything for a moment. “I don’t know this number, but I know you got this number from someone I care about. I’d advise you to tell me who you are before I send my team to identify you. One would be less bloody.”
Jake said, “Hello, Cousin. It seems you have lost something of yours.”
“Jake Worthing.” Lane’s voice didn’t warm. “I was hoping to receive a call letting me know you were dead. What do I owe this pleasure of hearing from you personally?”
This was the guy behind our contracts? This guy?
He sounded annoyed more than murderous, despite his words.
Jake was like cement, but I glanced in Blake’s direction. She froze when his voice first spoke through the phone. Now she was blinking rapidly as sweat began to pour down her face. She looked terrified.
My heart ached again.
She’d been hiding from him for a reason.
I missed my family. I wished they were here with me. Clara, Bess, and my mom would have had it figured out within a few minutes. Their plan might not have been logical, but I would’ve felt comforted knowing they were with me. They wouldn’t have helped kidnap someone only to turn around and offer that person to their stalker. Well . . . they would’ve helped kidnap someone. They’d do that in a heartbeat. It would be giving the person up where they would draw the line.
Jake said to trust him, but he also told me that if it came down to anyone or me, he would choose me. He’d give Blake up in a heartbeat if it meant I’d live.
I couldn’t let that happen. I just couldn’t.
A plan started to form.
It was a bad plan. A totally illogical and reckless plan, but when I looked at Blake again, a single tear slid down her face. She was blinking again, trying to stop that tear from slipping out, but it was too late.
Her eyes met mine. I saw the anguish there.
I couldn’t do it.
I wouldn’t do it.
Seeing something in me, she straightened suddenly, pushing up in her seat.
Jake and Creighton were talking, but in that moment, Blake and I were having our own.
I mouthed to her, hoping she could read my words. “I will help you.”
Her eyes narrowed before relief blazed in them, quickly masked as she began blinking again. She schooled her face back to a mask.
How was I going to do this?
Phone. I needed my phone.
And my aunts. They would help.
I risked a look at Jake.
Oh, Jake.
I was going to betray him.
My throat tightened.
He’d be okay. He’d have to be okay.
Once everything was set, I’d figure out how to help Blake and help Jake and myself.
There needed to be a way. Some way.
Maybe a miracle? It was time to start praying.
I came back to the present when I heard Lane ask, “Is she there?”
Jake tugged down her gag. “Speak.”
“Blake?” Lane said through the phone.
She shifted on the seat, wincing. Her voice came out husky and soft. “Hey, Eight.”
He was quiet for a beat before asking, his voice low, “Are you okay, my little quokka?”
Blake huffed. “Oh, fuck you.” Some of the terror had fled when we’d had our understanding, but I was able to see through her now. A little bit. She was putting on a good front that this wasn’t bothering her, but I saw it now. She was quaking inside at whatever this man was to her.
More shame rose in me. I’d helped put her in this position.
“Have your hosts been treating you well?”
Her jaw clenched. “Fuck’s sake, Eight. I was kidnapped. They’re not my hosts. We’re not having Sunday brunch here.”
A low and smooth chuckle slid through the phone from his end. “I’ll see what I can do.”
If her hands hadn’t been tied to the chair, I had a feeling she would’ve been giving the phone a middle finger. She retorted, “Yeah. You do that.”
“Worthing.” His voice dipped, showing some of his anger.
There it was. It was a brief glimpse, but there was the monster everyone had been talking about. In just that word, I could hear how he was capable of ordering our deaths even though he had no clue who one of those people was.
Jake met my gaze, frowning, before he took the phone off speaker and took it into the other room. I heard before he closed the door, “Let’s talk.”
“Don’t let it fool you,” Blake said.
All the stress lines in her face, the bags under her eyes, the shadows and ghosts, all of it suddenly was on full display. She wasn’t hiding from me at all. Her shoulders sagged and her head fell down. She didn’t have the energy to keep her mask up.