Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
I thought there was something special between us that others could never feel or imagine. A connection that even as a child I knew existed for us and us alone. I’m a fucking fool.
“I want her to tell me, face-to-face before she dies, that she leaked information. That she was working with the feds or, at the very least, Scarlet. I want her to admit she used me. I want to hear it for my fucking self. You won’t let her come close to breaking without me there. Is that understood?”
“Boss, I don’t—”
“Did you not fucking hear me?” The scream rips up my throat, a heat and adrenaline fueled by anger causing Nate to take a step back instinctively.
The brick walls of the narrow hall make my voice ricochet as I suddenly feel light-headed.
“I hear you, Boss. I’ll stay by her side and I’ll make certain you are the last one to speak to her.”
“If she’s not fucking alive, I will kill you myself, Nate.” The venom is my words is palpable.
“Yes, Boss.”
“I mean it. You stay by her, you watch them.”
“Watch them?”
“Make sure they don’t take it too far.” Even the thought of them hurting her makes me sick. It has to be done. I know it, and yet, every part of me screams not to allow it.
Blood drains from his face. “Is that too fucking difficult? Do I need to do it myself?” I question, my voice hard and my knuckles white from the skin stretched tight as I ball my hands into fists.
“No, Boss. I’ll take care of it,” he says, the words rushing out of him like he can’t say them fast enough.
“She betrayed me in a way no one ever has,” I confess to him against my best judgment. Conflicting emotions swarm through me as I accept the reality. “I will be the last person she sees before she dies. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” he answers weakly and then nods. His gaze drops and the nervousness falls from him in waves.
“You should go, then; don’t want to keep them waiting.”
I stand perfectly still, unable to move until the doors shut behind me. I’ve never felt so alone and so devoid of emotion.
The need for revenge, the desire to fight, the anger at being betrayed … it’s all lacking. There’s a hollowness in my chest and in the quiet, it feels like an agony I’ve never known. The back of my eyes itch and as tears brim, I punch the brick wall, over and over. Refusing to believe that she got to me. Refusing to believe I will cry for her. A woman who used me and betrayed me and my family.
What’s worse is that they know. I can’t hide her from them. They know what she’s done. They know what she did to me.
Every muscle in my body screams as my fists slam against the bricks. Getting it all out of me until my bones crunch leaves me how I should be, empty once again.
BRAELYNN
Waking up to an ice bath surrounding my lower half, I’m convinced I’m still sleeping even though I’m shaking. I’m convinced the restraints keeping my limbs in place and the thin bars of my iron cage are nothing but a nightmare.
My teeth chatter and it’s the only thing I can hear as I slowly come to.
As my heavy eyes open and shivers run up my body, I do everything I can to move away from the cold, to rip myself free. My heart should be racing but it’s struggling to get going. As if it’s in denial or perhaps unable to run. It’s trapped like me. The sound of noisy grinding behind me widens my eyes even further. As my body is lowered deeper into the ice bath, to my waist this time, it’s far too apparent this is my reality.
Shock is brutal, but then again, so are the memories as they filter back to me in a blur.
“Help!” I shriek out, thinking I’m very much alone. My voice echoes as my dress soaks up the water, lifting the iced water to my spine. The chill is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. It seeps into the very depths of my bones.
I’ve never experienced such debilitating cold before. In a panic, I search the room.
Concrete walls without a single window in sight give the space an oppressive feeling. I’m trapped in an iron cage centered within a large steel tub that’s maybe ten by four feet, one that looks aged. Apart from the machine behind me that lifts and drops the contraption I’m in, there isn’t a sound in the room to suggest anyone else is here.
The machine groans and rumbles again, the telltale eerie whine indicating movement is imminent and my heart spasms, fearing I’ll be dropped farther. “Please help me!” I scream and my words are nearly cut off by the shock of my chilled skin hitting the air.