Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Jesus Christ, why had my father sent that man? No, I knew why. Oh God. He was going to have them all killed.
“You’re trembling,” Locke said, pulling me to his chest and wrapping his arms around me.
I wanted to sink into the warmth and pretend that he could protect me, but I knew better. He needed protection, and I was all any of them had.
“I have to go,” I said. “Now.” I pulled away from him. “I’ll call my father and tell him to have Thaddeus meet me somewhere else.” And I’d warn him I would run and he could chase me for eternity if any harm came to these people.
They’d helped me, not knowing who they had brought into their home.
I no longer disliked Linc. He’d been right not to want me here. He had every right to hate me.
“Lace, it’s okay,” he said, reaching out to grab my arm. “Easy. It’s okay if Thaddeus comes here.”
I shook my head. “No, it is not. You don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know what he is or what he does for my father. I do, and trust me, you want me to leave. Linc was right about me. I’m not safe. I have to go!”
Locke’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Lace,” he said, holding my arm to keep me from running, “what do you know about Thaddeus?”
I wanted to scream at him to let me go. We didn’t have time for this. I had to save him and everyone else.
“Locke, listen to me. You have to let me leave. There is no time for this or an explanation. To protect you, I can’t tell you what you want to know. But that man isn’t someone who is going to be paying a nice visit to pick me up and leave. He was sent by my father to clean up the mess I’d made. And the way he will clean it up…” I swallowed the bile in my throat as tears stung my eyes. “No one will survive. Please, just let me get out of this house, call my father, and…and y’all need to call the police or something. Get a security gate. Bolt the windows and doors, buy some ammunition. I don’t know, but protect yourselves.”
He blew out a heavy sigh, but instead of looking scared, like he should, he looked…as if he thought I was misinformed or crazy and needed to be locked in a padded room and he hated to do it. They were all going to die, and it would be on my hands. All my fault. I was a walking curse, just like my father had shouted at me for the first time when I was six years old and continued to tell me every chance he got. My presence brought darkness and tragedy to those around me.
“Yeah, uh, listen…I don’t have the authority to tell you that you’re wrong and why I know without a doubt that you’re wrong. But I can assure you that Thaddeus isn’t going to do anything to us.”
I would scream at the top of my lungs if I thought it would help. But he wasn’t listening to me. He wasn’t going to believe me.
“You’re wrong,” I said as I choked out a sob.
I’d have to watch it. All these people who had brought me here and helped me…I would have to watch them die.
“Jesus,” he swore, and his hands cupped my face. “Lace, look at me.”
I lifted my eyes to stare up into his, wondering if I’d have to endure watching the light in them go out. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and he brushed them away with his thumbs.
“Fuck it,” he muttered. “You clearly know who and what Thaddeus is.”
I blinked and held my breath. He’d said that as if he, too, knew.
Did he? But how?
“Thaddeus has been in this house many times,” he said, and the air in my lungs seemed to all whoosh out.
“Locke!” Luther’s harsh voice shouted.
I jumped. Locke, however, didn’t move. Simply lifted his eyes to look at Luther.
“She’s having a breakdown. She knows who Thaddeus is—or rather, what he is.”
Luther knew too.
“Did you tell her?” he barked.
“No,” Locke snapped with clear annoyance on his face. “When I told her who was coming, she just flipped out. She thinks we are all going to die.”
“Fuck,” Luther growled. “Let her go.”
Locke’s gaze dropped back to mine, and he gave me a reassuring smile before dropping his hands from my face and stepping back. “You good?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure. What did they think they knew about Thaddeus?
“Depends,” I replied, my voice hoarse.
“Look at me.” Luther’s demand had me turning around instantly to see him standing only a few feet from where I was. He was closer than I had realized. “Tell me who you think Thaddeus is.”
I’d lied to him already, and I wasn’t able to lie about anything more. He didn’t deserve it, and if I told him the truth, then maybe they would take me seriously and let me walk out that door alone.