Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Fuck, how I’d wanted to be that for her.
Her peace.
This crazy thing inside me that wanted to make her mine.
That flagrant stupidity pierced me on a fiery arrow, and I gritted my teeth and forced the inane thought down.
She didn’t want a fucking thing to do with me, same as she didn’t want me anywhere near that kid.
My kid.
Fuck.
Nearly choked on it, the bolt of awareness that was making me contemplate reckless things.
River shifted his gaze to Theo and Cash who sat next to each other. “Either of you have thoughts on this?”
It wasn’t just what River and I wanted. Sovereign Sanctum was majority rule.
Everything put to a vote.
Of course, both he and Otto had gone around that with Charleigh and Raven, but some things were just going to come to be, no matter what any of us had to say about them.
“Think Kane is right. Things have changed,” Theo rumbled, jutting his chin at me.
Cash nodded. “Yeah, no sense in stacking risk when there is an alternative. That is if Kane really wants to take it on?”
I was the money guy.
The launderer.
Taking whatever Cash swindled with his hacking and spinning it so we could use it to support what we did. Using it to set up families that we’d gotten out of these horrible situations.
Using it to support ourselves so we could do it, though every business we’d opened here in Moonlit Ridge had begun to flourish—except for those couple of dives that served as the perfect cover.
And this time, I was going to be the enforcer. The one who got them out under any means necessary.
“Think we do it together.” Theo’s claim cut through the tense air.
I frowned. “That wasn’t what I—”
“This one’s gonna be messy,” he growled, cutting me off. “Think we all know it, and I think we need to plan for the likelihood of you needing backup. Besides, I haven’t seen any action in a long time. Your boy is getting bored.”
He grinned.
All teeth.
A coarse chuckle rumbled out of me, and I wondered if any of us would ever fully be rid of it. The perverted thrill that came with taking out the sleaze.
“Sounds like it’s settled then,” I said, sitting back and glancing around at each of my crew.
My family.
The only ones in this world I’d ever trusted. Ones who’d had my back in every way. From the moment I’d had my world destroyed and had been left without anything.
A sigh of surrender pilfered out of River, and he stuck his fist back in the middle of the table. “All right then. We put this to a vote.” He hesitated before he mumbled, “Aye.”
Each of us did the same, and a roll of “Ayes” went around. A consensus.
Theo and I were going, not that I wouldn’t already be involved in something far seedier next week. Because they could never know my true failure.
What I’d done.
What I’d caused.
And I’d spend the rest of my life trying to make amends for it.
River began to close the meeting, the same way as we always did, his voice a low slash as he intoned, “Our oath to the afflicted. Our oath to the forsaken. Our oath to Sovereign Sanctum.”
We all repeated it before we stood. The second the meeting was adjourned, the mood immediately shifted. Casual conversations struck up as my brothers began to climb upstairs.
Otto, Theo, then River.
I held back, eyeing Cash who obviously knew I had something to say since he did the same.
I was unable to stop myself. The urge to take action.
This need I couldn’t turn away from, even though I had no fuckin’ idea what to do with it.
When they were out of earshot, I leaned in close to Cash and muttered, “I need a number.”
THIRTEEN
EMERY
Darkness reigned in the room.
Thick, soggy, and disorienting.
I stared blankly at the nothingness of the ceiling, barely able to make out its form in the night. Exhaustion weighed me down, my back pinned to the mattress, but it didn’t matter how tired I was, how hard I squeezed my eyes closed and begged for sleep, it wouldn’t come.
My mother’s soft snores echoed in the room, and Maci’s sweet breaths were panting into my arm where she lay at my side, snuggled up with her blanket and doll.
Locks of her hair tickled my skin where it was splayed wildly around her.
She’d decided she wanted to sleep with me tonight.
Every night, she’d said with her adorable, gut-wrenching grin.
Now, I lay there listening to the rhythm of their sleep.
I willed myself to follow it, but I couldn’t find the respite I was aching for.
Blowing out a hushed sigh, I carefully slipped out from beneath the covers, unplugged my phone from the charger where it sat on the nightstand, then crept out into the living area of our suite.
The window that overlooked Culberry Street was wide open, the drapes pushed all the way back to the sleeping town below.