Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
I opened my gaze, repeating, “Home?”
“Yeah, Kitty.” He smiled, his eyes falling to my mouth. “Come home with me.”
My eyebrows rose. Hesitant at first, he gripped the crook of my neck, pulling me toward him to rest his forehead on mine.
“You make me want to forget Julius is my brother.”
I lightly sucked in a breath, not expecting his confession.
Of course he read my thoughts, following up with, “What do you think about that?”
“I think…” The question consumed me for a minute until I finally confided, “You make it really hard to remember what I’m supposed to do.”
“What do you want to do, Isla?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
“It won’t change anything.”
“Try me.”
“Kraven…” I stressed, leaning into him. “You know I care about you too.”
“Then how about you stop pretending it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s the problem,” I confirmed, trying to be as honest as I could with him. “It matters too much, and either way you look at it, someone gets hurt, including me.”
“Julius isn’t here, Isla, and that has to count for something. His loss is my gain.”
“I’m not a prize.”
“No, but you’re the only one who makes me forget how fucked up everything is right now. You’re the reason I stay, Kitty.”
I sucked in my bottom lip, trying to keep my feelings at bay. “Are you saying Julius left because of me?”
“No, he left because he’s broken, and I know because I’m broken too, but that’s not on you. You didn’t break anyone. You just made us realize how truly broken we are.”
“Kraven, I—”
“Run!” The sound of sirens echoed in the distance. “Cops!”
“Shit!” Kraven exclaimed, grabbing my hand. In one quick movement, he yanked me up with him, and we took off running.
I kept up with his pace, but somewhere along the way, I started laughing as we ran deeper into the woods.
“God!” I abruptly stopped once the coast was clear, looking up at the sky. “Can you please stop using us as your source of entertainment?” With my hands on my knees, I panted, trying to catch my breath.
“I hate to break it to you, Kitty, but I don’t think he’s going to listen. Now this—” I requested an Uber on my phone. “This will listen.”
During the entire ride to the house, we were silent. I could sense his regard for me, pushing and pulling like a game of tug-of-war until he reached for my hand, holding it in his lap the rest of the drive.
In the grand scheme of things, it was such a simple gesture, but at that moment, it meant everything. Lightly, he brushed his thumb back and forth on my fingers, stirring shivers to course down my spine.
Kraven was never far from my mind, but suddenly, he lived there. On the whole Uber ride to the house, I thought of nothing else.
Only him.
Kraven.
“House is on the corner,” he instructed the driver. “Isla, I—”
I gasped, noticing the lights were on in the living room. In the blink of an eye, my stomach dropped, and all I could think about was Julius being home.
He finally came back.
“Isla—”
I quickly opened the door, darting toward the entrance.
“Isla—”
Sprinting past the threshold, I didn’t listen, instantly coming face-to-face with him.
After all this time…
His stare cut through me before landing on Kraven, who was now standing beside me.
“You stupid motherfucker!” he roared.
Kraven instantly placed me behind him, viciously glaring at him. What happened next burned into my memory. Nothing could have prepared me for what was about to go down. I was used to being caught in the middle.
Except this time, it wasn’t Julius and Kraven I was stuck in the middle of.
No.
This time, it wasn’t sibling rivalry I was up against.
This encounter was much darker.
Deeper.
This battle was with Kraven and the first man who ever broke his heart.
He was the original wound he’d never heal from…
His father.
CHAPTER
FIFTY
ISLA
Joe didn’t waver, attacking full force. “You fucking killed her, you little shit! You finally fucking killed her!”
I flinched, stunned by the power of his statement.
Joe slurred, stumbling all around. “You sucked the life out of her! You both did! You and Julius! You did this to her! You’re the reason she’s dead!”
I thought Kraven would fight back.
I thought he’d argue.
Stick up for himself.
Something.
Anything.
Other than how he was reacting. He was frozen in the place he stood.
Coming from a guy who always chose to fight, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Joe barged right in as if he were invited. Fully aware he wasn’t even welcome. Every last one of his demons emerged, clouding the space around us. The tension was so thick you could choke on it.
The answers he needed.
The truth he was looking for.
The reality of his mistakes and regrets.
None of what I thought I’d see from a father who abandoned his sons was there.
Instead, he was filled with nothing but his wrath.
The room smelled of booze and weed, and it was obvious he was shit-faced. He could barely stand, slurring his words as he held a bottle of whiskey that was almost empty.