Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Who knows what they were thinking,” Antonio says. “Obviously, they’re out of their fucking minds. Maybe they just grabbed all the shit they could and ran.”
“I don’t want to sound like an asshole here,” Leo starts, letting us know he’s one hundred percent going to be an asshole. “I can empathize for this girls and all, but maybe we should put this rescue mission on hold until we get through, I don’t know, the small problem we have on our hands where our mother is possessed by a really fucking powerful demon?”
“I’m telling you, it’s connected,” I press.
“How” Leo exasperates. “You didn’t even know this girl existed until you saw her name, what, yesterday?”
“It’s a feeling.”
“Saving her isn’t going to undo what happened to you,” Leo rushes out, earning a side-eye from Antonio.
“That’s not why I want to save her.” I clench my jaw, letting out a strangled breath. “Something isn’t right, and the universe lead me to—”
“The universe?” Leo scoffs with a laugh. “You’re starting to sound like your fucking woo-woo friend.”
“Woo-woo?” My brows go up. “We literally are woo-woo. We’re witches. Accept it.”
“I always have!” Leo shoots back.
“Guys,” Antonio says but we both ignore him.
“That’s the thing, Wren,” Leo goes on. “You’re so stuck on your poor, pitiful me bullshit sometimes you cannot see the forest through the goddamn trees!”
“You’re such a fucking asshole sometimes.”
“Right back at ya,” he grumbles. “Everything is fucking falling apart.”
“We don’t have to,” Antonio says. “We don’t have to fall apart and we all know we’re stronger together, as a family.”
“Fucking pathetic ass family,” Leo says under his breath and I want to smack him upside the head. “Gia is out of state in hiding, Riss is in jail, and Mom and Dad chose demonic power over us. It’s just the three of us.”
“That’s more than what a lot of people got.” Antonio tightens his grip on the steering wheel.
Leo softens. “You’re right.”
“I usually am.”
“I found her adoption papers, and it seems you guys guessed right. Her mom, Eudora Bellamy, was only sixteen. Given what I heard about the Bellamy family, making your teenage daughter give up her baby fits the bill, even if the baby is pure blood. The Order probably made the assumption she was magical, like you.”
“That’s kind of a big assumption,” Devon continues. “You know I love to play Devil’s Advocate. But then I saw the adoption papers.”
“She was adopted?” My brows pinch together. “Why did she end up in a group home? Isn’t that what usually happens to older foster kids still in the system?”
“Yeah. She was adopted and then it seems the adoptive parents surrendered their parental rights,” Leo says and turns the laptop around. “Look at the signature on the papers.”
I lean in, heart dropping to the bottom of my chest when I see his name.
“Marcus Henry.”
Chapter
Twenty
“You owe me,” Theo tells Zeke, holding out his hand. “Pay up.”
“Did you seriously bet on whether or not I’d end up in some kind of trouble?”
I kick off my shoes as I step into the house.
Xavier is right there with the others, and there’s no hiding the stress on his face. If vampires could age, he’d probably have gray hair by now just from being married to me.
“I should’ve started making these bets earlier,” Theo says, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’d be a very rich man.”
“Aren’t you already a rich man?”
Xavier ignores us both, looking me up and down like he needs physical confirmation that I’m actually okay.
I wave a hand. “Come on. I’ll tell you everything, but I want to sit down first.” We move into the family room, and I sit close to Xavier on the couch. Antonio and Leo follow us in, and before long, basically the entire family is gathered around for an impromptu meeting.
I tell them everything Larkin said, anxiety bubbling unpleasantly in my stomach as I repeat her warning. The coalition is destabilizing fast.
“And that’s not all,” I say once I finish recounting what happened with the Reapers. “There’s another witch I think the Order had in their grasp. Another witch whose blood could potentially be used to free a demon.”
“Instead of taking bets, I think I need to make a bingo card,” Theo mutters under his breath.
“Not a bad idea,” Antonio surprisingly agrees. “Though I don’t know how we’d predict half this crazy-ass shit.”
“You’re telling me,” Theo scoffs.
“Another witch?” Mabel asks. “Kidnapped like you?”
“Maybe.” I lean closer to Xavier and shift my gaze toward Leo. “You think you can hack into the Fairmont group home?”
“Think?” Leo asks, eyebrows shooting up as he gives me an exaggerated look of offense. “I know I can hack into their system. Give me an hour and I’ll get you everything on Eudora Claire Bellamy.”
“Why are you hacking into a group home’s system?” Zeke asks.
“Fairmont is a group home for kids getting close to aging out of foster care,” I explain quickly