Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
“And now that you know what’s going on, you’re not going anywhere except with us.” Grey leans sideways and holds out his hand. “Now give me your phone so you don’t do anything stupid.”
Xav narrows his eyes at him but still does what he says. “Fine. But if you get us fucking killed, I’m haunting your ass.”
Grey sports a half smile. “Get in line.”
Apollo
“God-fucking-dammit!” I scream into the phone, before I chuck it at the school’s wall, right before my sister Cecelia exits the doors.
“Jesus Christ,” she mutters as she picks it up from the ground. “You’re lucky only the screen is cracked and not the whole damn phone.”
“I don’t fucking give a single shit about my phone!” I retort as I stomp to my car.
“Wow, wow, wow, hold up.” She blocks my way. “Tell me what’s going on?”
“Silas is going to torture Levi to instigate a fucking family war,” I growl as I move past her. “I have to find him. Now.”
Her eyes widen. “Holy shit, really?”
“Really,” I say, as I open my car door and sit down behind the wheel. “I don’t have time to waste.”
“Do you know where Levi is?”
“No. Silas probably already took him. But I know a few places to look.” I close my door.
She runs around to the other side. “Wait,” she says, ripping open the passenger door. “I’m coming with you.”
“What the fuck, Sisi? No. You’ll only get in the way.”
“Bullshit.” She puts her seat belt on. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to get hurt, but I can handle myself.” She turns my key until the car begins to hum. “Now drive.”
I glance sideways at her cheekiness, but her big smile always makes me roll my eyes. Goddamn princess always knows how to get her way.
“Give me your phone.”
“For what?” Cecelia asks.
“Call your brother.”
She frowns but still dials Heath’s number. “Okay…” she says, as she puts it on speaker.
After a while, he finally picks up. “What do you want?”
“Where did Silas take him?”
“Dude … please don’t ask me to interfere.”
“He’s my fucking cousin, Heath. I’m not letting Silas rip him to shreds. Do you know what we’re risking here?”
“I know, but he’s my best friend.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re both fucking Ivy,” Cecelia says, and I’m proud of her. Definitely my sister all right.
“It’s not just that. I owe him my loyalty.”
“Bullshit, Heath. You’re my brother. You owe me too.”
He sighs out loud. “Goddammit, Silas is gonna kill me for this …”
“Just tell me before I make Max tell me instead!” I shout while driving.
“All right, all right. He’s probably at the Shack, if I know him well enough.”
“The Shack?” I mumble.
“The abandoned house, when you drive down from the mountain. You know, the one people think is haunted.”
“Oh … the druggie house,” Sisi mutters.
“Got it,” I reply.
“Don’t tell him I told you. I don’t want to ruin thin—”
“Call Max and Ivy, tell them to come to the Shack,” I interrupt. “You too.”
“What? No, Max is Levi’s half brother. It’s insane to put him between Silas and Levi, that’ll destroy him! Not to mention Ivy.”
“Listen to me, if we don’t nip this shit in the bud before it explodes, our families are going to kill each other,” I growl back. “So get everyone to the Shack, now.”
I turn off the phone and focus on driving there as fast as I possibly can.
“Open the glove compartment.”
Cecelia presses the button and out falls my gun, right into her lap, and her eyes widen. “Apollo, what the fuck are you doing with this?”
“It’s for emergencies.”
“Does Dad know you stole this from him?”
“No, and I wanna keep it that way,” I say, looking at her intently.
“What are you gonna do with this?” she asks, hesitation in her voice.
“If it comes down to it …” I say as I grab the gun, making sure it’s loaded and ready to go. “You’re gonna have to pick a side. Pick the right one.”
Levi
Ten minutes ago
I stare at the grimy walls as a mixture of saliva and blood drips down my lip. I don’t know how long I’ve been strapped to this chair or how many times I’ve been hit with Silas’s baseball bat. In this decrepit, old wooden building, kept together by rot and maggots, time easily slips away. The pain doesn’t faze me anymore. Each hit is a little harder than the one before. Hard enough to make me bleed, but not hard enough to knock me unconscious.
It’s like he knows exactly how to meticulously strip someone from their existence, piece by piece.
Like a true psychopath.
And I kind of envy his ability to turn it all off.
“Are you going to cry for Mommy yet?” Silas growls, gripping my hair so I look up at him.
When I don’t reply, he spits in my face. “Fuck you, Torres. You don’t deserve to keep your life.”