Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
He moved toward the wall slightly but stopped.
“Who in your family are you looking for?”
He licked his lips nervously. “My, uh, niece.”
I took another step toward him.
“I’d say that’s a very loose description,” Than said, swinging his gaze from the window back to Arthur, who was now locked on him.
“What do you know about it?” he asked Than.
Than raised his brows slightly and cut his eyes to me.
“We know that you don’t have a niece. Your sister has no children of her own.”
Arthur paused. “She has a stepdaughter. Problem child. What business is that of yours, and how do you know this about my sister?”
I laughed then, hearing the sinister lilt to it as I did. “Child? Oh, Cressida hasn’t been a child in a long time. And she was never a problem.”
Arthur’s eyes widened then, and his bravado was raising its head again at the sound of her name. “You know Cressida?”
“I’d be careful with your tone,” I warned him.
“Listen, if she’s done something, I can fix it. Just tell me where she is. My sister and brother-in-law are worried sick.”
The blatant lies and dark flicker in his eyes pushed me too far. He was slammed against the wall with my hand around his throat before he could finish the sentence.
Now that he was unable to speak now from the lack of oxygen, I bared my teeth as I got in his face. “Lie, and you’ll pay for it. I came for the truth.”
He shook his head, his eyes no longer hiding his terror as he stared at me. I eased up on my grip just enough so he could speak.
“Why are you looking for her?”
I felt his throat bob under my palm as he swallowed. “Worried,” he choked out, and I gripped his neck tighter and slammed the back of his head against the wall again.
“I said, NO LIES!” I snarled.
His eyes were watering, and he was getting the blue hue from not being able to breathe. I gave him enough to keep him from passing out, but dug my fingers into the sides of his neck, needing to cause him pain.
“Try again,” I urged.
“Sh-sh-she was mine.”
Those words were a mistake on his part. His head hit the wall so hard this time that I heard a crash from the other side of it. He went limp, his head falling to the side.
“You’re gonna give him an easy death if you keep that up,” Than pointed out.
“It’ll be an easier cleanup,” Gathe said. “I mean, unless you do it hard enough that his brains start coming out his fucking ears.”
I let go of his neck, and he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes slumping over to the side.
I then held my hand out to Gathe. “Give me his phone.”
Gathe handed it to me, and I broke through the password, then went to his text messages, scrolling for any mention of her.
Cressida’s name wasn’t mentioned, but it was one of the text threads. Although it had been six months since he’d last texted her. I began reading from the most recent. He was demanding that that she tell him where she went, threatening to have her tossed out on her ass, that he’d turn her father against her. Then, in the next text, he’d apologize, saying he didn’t mean it and that he loved her. She never responded to any of it.
Finally, something from her.
Arthur: If you don’t come tonight and treat me with respect at dinner with our family, I’ll make you live to regret it. Your attitude has been unacceptable. All we have done for you, all I have done for you. You get to live in that house because of me. Lucy would have kicked you out years ago.
Cressida: You can’t hurt me.
Arthur: You know I can. And I will do it again just to remind you since you seem to have forgotten.
Cressida: Bruises and broken bones heal.
Arthur: Then perhaps I’ll do something more permanent. If you can’t obey me and be a good girl, then you’re of no use to me. A problem. Clearing you out of our lives might be exactly what we need.
I spun back around to the unconscious man on the floor and went to grab him again. Wanting to see him suffer, scream out in agony.
“You’ll regret it if you snap his neck. Clearly, whatever you’re reading means he deserves a more brutal exit,” Than said through the fog of rage that had taken over me.
I let go of his neck, but not before I threw him onto the floor.
He groaned.
“Oh good, he’s not dead yet.” Gathe sounded truly relieved.
I glared down at the phone. “We might need to string him up before I read more. Go ahead and move on with the torture part before I kill him right here.”