Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
They all leave for their rooms, Aislin the last out of mine and Tiernan’s. The moment she closes the door behind her, my feet start pacing the carpeted floor.
“Tiernan…where are you?” I ask as if he’ll pop out from under the bed and let us know this is all some cruel joke.
My gaze goes to the nightstand where our book is, the one we started last night. Was it only last night? It feels like an eternity ago.
I frown when I notice the drawer isn’t closed all the way. Tiernan always closes it. I walk over and tug it, see the gun box inside…which was also left open, a nine-millimeter sitting there, waiting.
Tiernan left that for me. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.
I pull out the gun and the magazine beside it. The magazine is full, and after making sure the safety is on, I slide it into the gun.
I don’t care what the fuck I have to do, how I’m going to figure this out. All I know is, I’m going to find him and bring him home.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Tiernan
Oscar is the only guy here with my father and me, which tells me he wants to keep this on the down-low.
“Why isn’t Uncle Rian here?” I ask, trying to get under his skin. Ironically, we’re in a similar house to the one I killed Michael Jensen in, only this time I’m the one tied up. We have them all over the state, but I’ve never been to this one, and I thought I knew all the safe houses by now.
My father takes a drag of his cigarette. He’s not an everyday smoker, but when he’s planning on killing someone or working them over, he smokes like a chimney.
“Actually,” I say, “I don’t need you to tell me why he’s not here. I already know. He would tell you you’re wrong for this. He wouldn’t support it.” Killing Dean, yes, but not what he’s doing with me.
My father still doesn’t reply, only walks closer and backhands me across the face the way he did the last time I saw him. My head jerks to the side, pain exploding across my cheek, but I grit my teeth and pretend it doesn’t hurt. Slowly, I turn my head back so I’m facing him, my hair sweaty and hanging into my eyes. “Rian wouldn’t like that either. He rarely talks to Cil, but he doesn’t hit him. I’ve spent my entire life keeping your secrets, not letting them know how weak you are. They wouldn’t consider you a man if they knew what you did—how you hurt your own fucking son when he was too little to fight back.”
“You’ve got a mouth on you,” he says calmly. “You have a whole lot to say about me, but why don’t you take a look in the mirror? When I have dirty work I need done, who does it? You can hit back as an adult but you never do. If I’m not a man, you’re not either, and I don’t expect that will change when I kill your little boyfriend. You’ll still do everything you’re told. Who is the weak one?”
Anger explodes out of me like a volcano. I try to throw myself out of the chair, which obviously doesn’t work. It rocks and almost falls to the ground. “Fuck you!” I shout. “You’re not going to fucking touch him!”
“Oh yes, but I am. This isn’t about you, Tiernan. Well, not completely. You betrayed me. You’ve known who he is, but I’m not going to kill you, not unless you make me, and we both know you would never willingly walk away from your mother and your sister. I’m just using you to play a game with the kid before I kill him…you know, make him suffer first.”
My eyes narrow, breathing heavy, but I don’t lose my cool like I did moments ago. Instead, I stare him down, gather all my rage so he can see it, fucking feel it. “You touch him, and you’ll die. You won’t know when, you won’t know how, but it’ll be by my hand, and I’ll love every second of it.”
He pulls in another drag of his cigarette, stare as cold as mine. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I can keep them, and I will.”
“Huh.” He shrugs. “Maybe you’re a little more use to me after all. I’ve been waiting most of your life to see that fire in you. Imagine the damage I can do, considering I control it.”
The sad part is, he does, or at least he’s controlled it every day of my life until now. It doesn’t matter what happens after today, whether Dean is alive or dead. I won’t rest until my father isn’t breathing, and my smiling face will be the last thing he sees.