Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
For my entire life, until now, I would default to that thought.
But fucking Rayne Colson.
Rayne’s put another idea into my head.
One that never had any business belonging there.
Maybe Rayne’s missing, and not answering his phone, because something actually did come up.
And the moment that thought enters my head, a flash of something else fills my veins.
A desperate fear.
Fear like a smack to the face.
Something I truly never thought I’d feel this strongly again.
No.
I’ve left him alone.
In danger.
The way I’ve been trying to prevent.
Slipping up for the first time all semester, and forgetting the most important goddamned thing: I need to protect him.
I realize my mistake the moment the adrenaline hits my blood, and I take off up the steep hill that leads around the curve in the street.
My heart begins to pound.
My feet crunch on fallen leaves, and I watch as the last of the sunlight slants across the road, forming deep shadows until it disappears behind the horizon.
Ever since the notes appeared, targeting me and Weston, I’d made the mistake of getting comfortable, thinking that Rayne was in the clear, now.
But one thing is true about Rayne: he keeps good time.
He’s almost never late.
He keeps to his schedule, and when he can’t, he fucking calls.
“So fucking stupid,” I tell myself under my breath as I start to jog up the sidewalk, seeing the edge of the Double Daggers house first.
Maybe everything is fine.
But I should know better than to assume that, just because most people are gone from campus this week.
In London, the Thornwick crime family had a rule: their best business was always done either in a large crowd of people, or…
When nearly everyone was gone.
This week was the latter.
I start to smell campfire smoke in the air as I run past the Daggers house.
In my mind, I’m on my way to Onyx House.
But I never make it far enough.
I see a smear of blood in front of Luros House, along the sidewalk.
And then more little drips of blood, leading up the front walkway, inside.
Fresh blood.
Not dried up, not oxidized at all.
Something turns in my stomach.
No.
Luros girls are being attacked, too.
I can see the edge of a blazing fire in the backyard, contained neatly in the fire pit but with flames flying high.
Someone is here.
“Fuck. Fuck.”
I glance over at Onyx House, then back to the front of Luros. I make a snap decision and push open the heavy iron gate at the front of Luros, sprinting along their stone front walkway, past the rose gardens and up the front steps.
I don’t bother knocking.
Because I see a streak of blood on the front door, too. Like someone was struggling.
And in an instant, the fear and indecision leave my body.
A pin focus fills me, like a spotlight has suddenly been turned on.
And people are waiting for me to perform.
I have to fix this.
I can fix this, whatever the fuck is going on.
Just as I shove open one wooden front door of Luros House, I see a flash of movement past the side yard, from over at Onyx House.
I glance up and see a man there.
A man I don’t recognize at all, out on one of the second-floor balconies, looking around.
I freeze for a moment, watching him.
He doesn’t see me yet.
He’s wearing all black, and I can see that he’s holding a gun in his gloved hand. His hair is jet black and shiny, falling in a short swoop.
Hair that kind of looks like Briar’s.
What the fuck is going on?
As he looks around the balcony, he’s about to go back inside Onyx House, but then he sees me.
And the moment his eyes land on me, he positions his gun, pointing at me.
“No,” I say under my breath, ducking inside the front of Luros House right as the shot goes off, exploding through the calm of the street.
And then another shot.
Then a third.
I’m in the Luros entryway and I shove the wooden front door shut, locking it.
There’s more blood on the floor, leading up their curved staircase.
Even if I were capable of panicking, I don’t have time for it now. I need to know where this tiny trail of blood leads.
I may be moments away from my own death, but my life?
My life doesn’t matter.
All I need to know is that the person is safe.
Whether it’s the life of a girl who stayed here in Luros House, or…
Rayne.
And, fuck, my brother’s life, too.
I walk upstairs and find the only closed door in the upstairs hallway, and my heartbeat stills for a moment.
There’s something behind that door. I’m certain of it.
I take my steps lightly, because I may need the element of surprise. I reach for the knife in my pocket, flicking it open and gripping it in my palm.
My hands are steady.
And I’m fucking putting an end to this.
I push open the door and my heart drops when I see the inside of the room. And it’s like the wind is knocked out of me, when I realize the truth.