Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
He doesn’t say a word.
“And I don’t ever want to see you again, or I swear to God I will pull that trigger.”
My father swallows.
Then I grab Beast’s hand and walk. “Let’s go.”
“You didn’t … kill him,” he mutters. “You’ve got far more control than I do.”
“Don’t tempt me to go back,” I say, tugging him along even though he walks slowly as though he can’t believe I’m willing to let my father walk.
But I am not like my father.
I don’t kill for money.
I don’t kill for fun.
I don’t kill for revenge.
I kill to protect.
And no one needs protecting from a squeaky, little, insignificant, powerless mouse.
Beast pauses, forcing me to stop, too, even though we’re almost out the door. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t want to be a murderer,” I reply. “That’s not who I am.”
Beast brings his hand to my face, caressing me softly, reminding me of where I belong. “No … you were always better than him.”
I smile.
Until my father laughs erratically. “Oh, I knew you wouldn’t do it. That Beast puts thoughts in your head that don’t belong there.”
I try to ignore him. I really do.
Until he suddenly flies headfirst into one of the guards lying on the floor and grasps the gun in the man’s hands … then aims it at Beast.
“You took everything from me!” he shrieks as Beast turns to look at him, unarmed.
I turn and shoot.
BANG!
The bullet enters my father’s skull right between his eyes.
“No,” I reply as he sinks down onto the floor, blood oozing from his head. “You did.”
I march over to him to look into his eyes as his soul slowly begins to leave his body. “I hope you rot in hell.”
When he breathes his last breath, I sigh along with him and let every bit of anxiety evaporate like snow before the sun.
“Damn girl,” Luca says as he leans against the windowsill while his mother makes some calls to whatever people she knows to clean up the house. Or whatever is left of it. “I’m impressed.”
I thought I’d be remorseful. Guilty. Sad. Upset.
But I feel … nothing.
Not even an inch of pain.
Beast’s hand slowly snakes around my waist as I stare at my father’s corpse. “Even when you gave him the opportunity to live out his life, he still chose to try to end mine.”
“I couldn’t let him,” I say.
He pulls me in for a sideways hug. “I know, beauty. I know. You’re a million times better than he could ever dream to be.” I lean into him as he slowly pulls the gun from my fingers. “It’s over.”
I breathe a sigh of relief as he tucks his gun back into his pocket and laces his fingers through mine. “Let’s go.”
He strings me along until I have no more reason to stay. And we walk out the door and head downstairs, stepping over all the bodies of all the people Beast had to kill to get to me along the way.
And something about that is … humbling to the core.
Until Luca suddenly runs after us down the stairs. “Wait.”
We pause and look over our shoulders at him as he clears his throat.
“Hey, I don’t want to walk all over your obvious corpse parade, but do you even have a place to stay?” he asks.
My mind immediately goes back to the beach house and how violently torn up it must be, thanks to his father.
Beast pulls me along toward the front door.
“I can give you one of our vacation homes.”
Now he pauses.
I turn to look at Luca again. “Why would you do that?” I ask, suspicious of his offer.
Beast tilts his head as though he’s willing to hear him out, and I wonder what those two talked about and concocted that makes them so trusting of each other all of a sudden.
“Wait, how did you two even come together like this?” I mutter.
“Long story,” Beast replies.
Luca smirks. “It was my father’s time to go.” He whistles and points at the window like he’s literally pointing Lex’s ghost the way out. “Anyway, the point is, if you need a place to stay, I can hook you up.”
“What’s the catch?” Beast asks, narrowing his eyes.
Luca shrugs. “None. I just don’t want any more fucking trouble.”
Beast merely glares at him like he’s actually considering the option.
“Can we trust him?” I whisper at him.
“No. But we don’t have anything else. The beach house is destroyed,” he replies.
“There’s only one key, and I can give it to you.”
“Why?” I ask him.
“As a thank-you,” Luca replies, stomping on the body again like he wants Lex to look disfigured. “For helping me end my father’s legacy.”
I swallow. This guy isn’t someone you mess with.
But he’s offering something that we don’t have. Something we’re desperately looking for.
A place to call home.
So I look at Beast, and he looks at me. “What do we have to lose?”