Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I grabbed the box, yanking it off the top shelf where my uncle told me it was. After showing me what was in it. And doing a quick overview on how to use it.
Just in case, was what he said. If I’m not here, I’m trusting you to do whatever you need to do to protect your sister.
As far as I could tell, Char wasn’t home.
But I had a feeling those instructions went for Alara too.
“Hey, your sister is—” my uncle answered, sounding tired.
“Chris,” I yelled, cutting him off.
There was the shortest of beats.
When his voice came back, it was cold and low.
“What happened?”
“Guys took Alara. When I woke up, they were already here. When I came out of my room, one had her by the face—”
“Fuck,” he hissed.
I whipped off the top of the box, grabbing the gun, amazed, as I had been the last time, at how heavy it was.
But I felt a calm wash over me as I held it.
“Okay. Listen. I’m five minutes from home with Char. If you can—”
“I’m not home.” It was a lie, technically.
But I was already rushing out of the apartment.
“What? Where are you?”
“Two guys. One at least six-two. Bulkier. With a rose tattoo on his forearm. The other was shorter, average. Both had blue eyes.”
“Liam, don’t be stupid. Wait for me.”
“They can’t be too far ahead of me,” I said, cradling the phone between my shoulder and ear as I went into the elevator so my hands were free to check the magazine of the gun.
“Liam,” Uncle Chris said, dead serious. “Did you just cock a gun?”
“I’m gonna find her.”
Then, knowing he was only going to keep lecturing me, making me doubt myself, I ended the call and silenced my phone.
He could track it once he got Charlotte safe.
I wasn’t wasting a minute when Alara was with those guys.
I rushed out the front door and down the steps, pausing on the sidewalk, scanning the streets.
Then another memory surfaced.
Alara mentioning a hacker friend.
She said she would bring them there.
That what they wanted was there.
Alara wasn’t stupid.
She wouldn’t lead them to some random idiot and put them in danger. But she would lead them to a hacker who was part of the Costa Family.
That was her thing.
Her obsession with the Family.
She knew everyone.
And as someone who had a growing interest as well, I’d been making mental notes anytime someone said anything that had to do with them.
So I knew there was one computer genius in the Family.
And with a name like Zeno, I didn’t imagine it would be too hard to find his address.
I tucked the gun into my waistband and typed on my phone, having to keep pausing to end the calls my uncle kept making.
Then I had it.
A fifteen-minute walk.
They’d probably taken a cab. Pretended Alara was drunk or high or something.
That maybe cut it in half.
But it was late.
The streets were empty.
And I could run.
If I was lucky, I’d be getting there just behind them.
So I sucked in a breath, ignored the shooting pain up my side, and hauled ass down the road.
Zeno lived in Hell’s Kitchen in an apartment over a nightclub.
The place was winding down, people spilling out the front doors, but the music was still thumping loud enough to guarantee that no one could hear if there was a whole gunfight going on the floor above.
I bolted up the stairs, the run and the noise making my head scream. But there would be time to wallow later.
I made my way to the door, pressing my ear to it as I reached for the gun.
I heard raised voices.
But it was impossible to make out who they were.
I sucked in several slow, deep breaths, not wanting to rush into who-knew-what situation and not be able to breathe.
Once I was sure I could breathe, I reached for the doorknob, turning it so slowly I felt like it took an hour. But if someone was watching the door, I didn’t want them to see it turning and then take me out before I could do anything.
Once it was fully turned in my hand, I sucked in one more breath, then threw it open as I raised my hand with the gun.
I took it all in at once.
The apartment with the killer computer and gaming setup; the man lounged back in his computer chair in pepperoni pizza-patterned pants; the man leaning over him with a gun; the one holding Alara by the throat.
With the noise from downstairs, most of them didn’t hear me. And the only one directly facing me was the man in the chair.
Zeno Costa.
He didn’t remind me of the other Costas.
He was tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and had the same kind of bone structure. But in his stupid pajama pants, with his ink and his piercings, he just didn’t fit the mold of what I thought I knew about the Costas.